Today's New Friends
by KatieGirl901
Summary: Part two of Tomorrow's Family. Join the Shepard-Gibbs family as they learn how to live together through the good, the bad and the ugly, how will they deal when old relationships come into question and new relationships blossom? Will Jenny and Gibbs be able to keep everything together for the kids or will it all fall apart before it has a chance to even really begin?
1. Chapter 1

**One**

Jennifer Shepard glared at the laundry basket in front of her, it had never occurred to her that having kids would mean a never ending pile of laundry, she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been constantly doing laundry. Her glare disappeared when Ava cooed from her blanket on the floor and squealed at the toy in front of her, she would do laundry every minute for the rest of her life if it meant getting to hear that sound.

It had been two weeks since her world had been turned upside down, two weeks of learning how to be a mom, two weeks of getting Jake and Kelly settled in at school and learning how to cope with being away from work.

Their meeting with SecNav two weeks prior had ended with her and Gibbs both being put on leave, hers had been listed as a personal leave while Gibbs had been put on medical leave while his shoulder healed. His doctor had given him permission to remove his sling the day before and Gibbs would be allowed to return to desk duty the following Monday, Jenny would be discussing her return to work, and the terms of it, with SecNav on the same day.

Gibbs had been correct in his assumption that SecNav would do whatever necessary to make the name Svetlana Chernitskaya disappear, while Gibbs and Jenny had both received a slap on the wrist and a warning that they would be on probation for the next six months they had gotten off relatively easy. Jenny sighed as she thought of the entire mess, twenty minutes before their meeting with SecNav, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo had called with the news that Alexander Chernitskaya had hung himself in his holding cell. It had made the entire nightmare that much easier to make disappear but Jenny couldn't help but feel bad about how everything had ended.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Ava giggling on the floor, she looked over her laundry basket and grinned at the baby who had her foot grasped in her hand, a wide grin on her face.

"What're you doing Monkey?" Jenny cooed.

She placed the folded onesie she was holding in the laundry basket and stood up, stretching out as she did so.

"Why are you allowed to call her Monkey but you get mad when I call her Bug?" A gruff voice asked from the living room entrance.

"Monkey's are cute, bugs are not." Jenny replied, rolling her eyes at her old partner.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her and Jenny watched him as he walked by and carefully picked Ava up off of the ground. She could tell he was enjoying having both of his arms available, he hadn't been able to hold Ava until the day before and it had been killing him to not be able to cuddle the baby.

"Who was on the phone?" Jenny asked as she picked up the laundry basket.

"My dad, he wanted to know how my doctors appointment went." Gibbs replied.

Gibbs' father had stayed with Jenny and the kids while he had been in the hospital but had had to leave the day after Gibbs had gotten home, it had been a tense day and half while both the Gibbs men had been in the house but they had survived relatively unscathed. Jackson Gibbs called to talk to his grandchildren at least twice a week and made sure to talk to Jenny at least that much, Gibbs managed to limit his contact with his dad to once a week but it was still more than they'd had for twelve years.

"Have you heard from Mike?" Jenny asked.

Mike Franks had stayed for another three days after Jackson had left but then had returned home, leaving Gibbs and Jenny alone to get used to being new parents.

"He's fine, Leyla and Amira are fine too." Gibbs replied as he brushed Ava's wispy hair out of her face.

"That's good, can you put her down for her nap? I want to finish up in Dani's room."

That had been the other major change in their lives, after a lot of discussion between themselves, their social worker and Kelly they had decided to take in Jenny's daughter. It had been two weeks of insanity trying to get ready for the day, none stop activity had meant that there hadn't been time for a face to face meeting with the teen. They had had a few awkward phone calls and Jenny knew that Kelly and Dani had been texting back and forth but that had been it. Dani was scheduled to move in the next day, giving them the weekend to get to know each other before everyone returned to work and school.

"Go ahead." Gibbs replied with a nod, "I can handle Bug."

Jenny rolled her eyes and made her way out of the room, she deposited the laundry basket in her room before crossing the hall into the room that would be Dani's, after much debate they had decided that Dani would take Gibbs' room and he would move into the guest room since his room was a bit bigger than the guest room and his room had been bare and easier to remodel compared to the guest room that had been customized by his team. Not to mention that even though it was never said aloud they both knew Gibbs slept on the couch more often than not anyway.

Jenny glanced around the room and smiled at all of the hard work that had been done, Kelly had been discreetly asking Dani what she liked to help Jenny decide how to decorate the room and Jenny only hoped that Dani like it. The room had been painted a medium grey, the bed frame was a black metal that matched the black desk that was sitting under the window, the room had a very bohemian feel compared to the modern-rustic feel of the rest of the house.

Jenny reached out and straightened out one of the fun patterned throw pillows that Kelly had picked out, they had left Kelly's room relatively bare when she had moved in, allowing her to personalize it herself and they planned to do the same for Dani but both Jenny and Kelly hadn't been able to help themselves when they had seen the pillows.

"It looks good, Jen."

Jenny smiled and turned around to find Gibbs standing in the doorway, "is Ava already asleep?"

"Yeah, once she had her bottle she was out like a light." Gibbs replied, "you should go take a nap, you look tired."

"You really know how to flatter a woman." She responded dryly.

"Not what I meant and you know it, just figured now would be a good time for you to relax for a bit."

She would never admit it but he knew Jenny wasn't sleeping, he could hear her wandering around at night, checking on the kids or making sure the doors were locked and even when she wasn't wandering around he was willing to bet that she was laying in bed awake. He could see how tired she was all the time even if she tried to hide it, what he couldn't figure out was if it was stress from everything that had happened in the last month or something that had been ongoing before that, or a combination of both.

"I was thinking about going over to my place, I want to make sure everything is okay over there." Jenny replied.

"Isn't Noemi supposed to be taking care of everything?"

"She is taking care of everything, but my house goes on the market on Tuesday and I want to make sure all of my pictures and personal belongings are packed up."

Jenny had left the majority of her stuff at her brownstone when they had moved into Ducky's old house but after much debate she had decided to sell her house and needed to move the rest of her stuff.

"Are you still dropping stuff off at my place?"

She would be selling a lot of her furniture but there were a few items that she couldn't bear to part with that she would be storing at Gibbs' old house until she could decide where she wanted to put them.

"Stan said it was fine if I brought some stuff by next weekend." Jenny replied.

When Special Agent Stan Burley had been temporarily reassigned to DC to help the MCRT out while Gibbs was on leave Gibbs had offered Stan his old house since no one else was living there. It had been a win win for them, giving Stan a place to stay while giving Gibbs peace of mind that the house was taken care of.

"Why don't you nap and then go to your place tonight?" Gibbs suggested.

"Is there any particular reason you are so determined that I need to take a nap?" Jenny asked, she placed her hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just don't want you to wear yourself out." Gibbs replied with a small shrug.

"You do just as much as I do on just as much sleep and you never complain, what makes you think I'm not capable of doing the same thing?"

"Not saying you're not capable, just saying that there's a lot goin' on." Gibbs replied carefully, "we have two kids, three soon and a baby, that's a lot."

"I'm aware that it's a lot, Jethro, but we're managing just fine, you need to stop worrying about me." Jenny stated gently, "I want you to treat me like you always have, not like I'm going to break at any minute."

Since the day in interrogation when all of her biggest secrets had been laid out in front of Gibbs and his team he had been treating her like she was made of glass, his team had been unusually quite around her and Gibbs had been walking on eggshells. She knew they were treading carefully for fear of upsetting her but the constant pitying glances and questions of 'how are you doing?' and the avoidance of anything pregnancy or death related were noticeable and getting old really quickly.

"Things are different than they used to be." Gibbs pointed out as his shoulders slumped slightly, "a lot has changed in ten years."

"No, a lot has changed in the last few weeks." Jenny corrected him, "you started walking on eggshells as soon as you found out about my pregnancy, you treat me like I'm going to fall apart any second and I'm not, I'm fine, Jethro."

"You're not fine, Jen." Gibbs stated quietly.

"How do you know I'm not fine? How exactly do you know how I'm feeling? You're good but you're not that good, Jethro." Jenny replied bitterly, "you have no idea what I'm feeling."

"You're right, may not know what you're feeling but I know what I'm feeling."

His voice was barely above a whisper and Jenny was sure she had heard him wrong until she looked at his face, gone was the usual blank mask and in it's place was a look she had never seen on him before.

"I'm not fine." He admitted quietly, he shrugged his shoulders slightly and ran a hand roughly over his face, "we lost a baby Jen, no one's expecting either of us to be fine."

"It was seven years ago." Jenny muttered.

"Losing a child isn't like losing a watch Jen, you don't get over it, hell sometimes you don't even get through it, you just learn to live with it." He stepped closer to her and hesitantly placed his hands on her shoulders. "you never dealt with it and I haven't had time to, but pretending to be okay doesn't make it go away, rule twenty eight."

"I don't need any help." Jenny whispered, "I'm tired of everyone trying to ' _help',_ I'm tired of everyone asking 'how are you doing?' And avoiding certain topics."

"We don't do that." Gibbs argued.

"Ziva mentioned that one of the witness on the case they were working was pregnant and every single person in the room stopped talking and looked at me like I was going to have a breakdown right there." Jenny reminded him.

She looked up at him and he immediately recognized the flash in her eyes, the look she was giving him was daring him to argue with her, to try and prove her wrong. He understood her frustration and he knew she hated being pitied for any reason but he didn't know how to help her.

"I'll talk to them." He offered, "they just don't know what to say, or how to help."

"They don't need to say or do anything, _you_ don't need to say or do anything, every time someone asks how I'm doing or avoids a subject just makes me remember. I don't want to remember Jethro, I just want to forget, I know that makes me a horrible mother but I just want to forget."

"You're not a horrible mother, you just want it to stop hurting." Gibbs replied with a small shrug.

He understood what she was feeling better than she realized, he had gone through it with Kelly and he was going through it again. Somedays, when he was wondering exactly how different things could have turned out, he wished the he had never found out about their baby, it would have been so much easier to live in ignorance but that wasn't how it worked and he knew it.

"I loved her, Jethro, I still do but…"

"But life would be a lot easier if it didn't hurt so much to remember the past." Gibbs finished for her, "wanting the pain to go away doesn't mean you love her less, doesn't make you a bad mom, it makes you human, Jen."

He took a chance and moved to loosely wrap his arms around Jenny, he gently pulled her against his chest and waited for her to fight it. Instead of fighting it though she simply fell against him and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

They'd had more casual physical contact over the course of the past two weeks but it had always been more the brushing of their fingers when they handed each other something or a small squeeze of the shoulder or hand if one of the was trying to reassure the other, nothing like the way Jenny was clinging to him at that moment.

"It might help to talk about it." Gibbs suggested slowly.

" _You_ , Leroy Jethro Gibbs want to talk?" Jenny asked incredulously, her words muffled against his chest.

"I want to know about my daughter." Gibbs admitted quietly.

"There's not much to know Jethro, it's not like I actually got to get to know her." Jenny reminded him with a small sigh, "what do you want to know?" She asked after a minute of silence

"Did you feel her moving at all?"

"I felt her kick for the first time at sixteen weeks, once she started she didn't stop." Jenny said, she smiled softly at the happy memory and tried not to focus on the bad parts.

Gibbs rested his chin on the top of her head and gently ran a hand up and down her back, he waited for a minute to see if she would add anything but when she remained silent he spoke up again.

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Jenny asked, she left her cheek resting against his chest but raised an eyebrow.

"Did you have any cravings or anything?" Gibbs asked hesitantly.

He wanted to know but he wasn't sure which questions would upset her or be too personal.

"Bananas, I couldn't get enough of them when I was pregnant with both of the girls but when I'm not pregnant even just the smell makes me sick to my stomach." Jenny replied, "actually that's what made me suspect I was pregnant with Lillian, I started craving bananas."

"Lillian?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"They needed a name… for the death certificate." Jenny whispered, "I'd had a few names picked out but that one seemed to fit the best, it's derived from the word lily which symbolized innocence, purity and beauty."

"Did she have a middle name?"

"Elizabeth." Jenny replied quietly, "I didn't really have a reason for it, I've just always liked the name."

"Lillian Elizabeth Shepard, it's pretty." Gibbs stated.

"Gibbs."

"What?" Gibbs asked.

He looked down at her in confusion but her forehead was still resting against his chest.

"Lilian Elizabeth Gibbs, I wanted her to have your name." Jenny whispered, her voice cracked slightly but she swallowed and refused to let the tears that were welling in her eyes fall.

Gibbs fought to swallow around the lump in his throat and pulled Jenny tighter against him, he didn't know what to say.

"Thank you." He finally whispered.

"You've never beaten around the bush before Jethro, don't start now."

"What do ya mean?"

"If you want to ask me something just ask it, you've never worried if it was too personal you've never been afraid to ask questions, don't change that now."

She knew it wasn't fair to ask him to live knowing nothing about their daughter, even though it hurt to talk about her Jenny didn't want him to be afraid to ask about whatever he wanted to know.

"Don't wanna make it hurt more." Gibbs stated, reading her mind.

As much as he wanted to know everything she was willing to share with him he didn't want to bring her more pain, he could understand wanting to numb the pain by never talking about it and he didn't want to be the reason Jenny had to be constantly reminded of what she had lost.

"She was your daughter too." Jenny responded shrugging her shoulders, "you deserve to know about her."

"Maybe another day." Gibbs replied.

He didn't want to add more stress to what was already guaranteed to be a stressful and emotional weekend.

"You sure you don't wanna take a nap?"

"I won't sleep even if I lay down, what if I watched a movie or something?" She compromised, "I can go to my place Sunday or Monday morning after the kids go to school."

She knew he was worried about her, she knew he was aware she didn't sleep, even just looking at herself in the mirror she could see that she definitely didn't look like she had six months ago, she was tired and stressed all the time and it showed. She had lost a good five pounds in the last month which was very noticeable on her already petit frame, if she weren't so stubborn she would probably even admit to herself that she needed to slow down a bit but she just kept ignoring the near constant state of exhaustion and cloud of stress around her.

She could understand why Gibbs was worried about her, but she was worried about him as well. He had been trying so hard to make sure that he was helping out around the house and with the kids that he had probably pushed himself further then he should have while his shoulder was still healing, she knew that he was sleeping just about as much as she was and that they were both still struggling to figure out how their relationship, be it what it may, and raising the kids would work.

They hadn't had any major disagreements on how to raise the kids, Jenny had been pleasantly surprised to find that they agreed on most things, and it helped that the kids were all very well behaved. Even though neither of them voiced it Jenny knew that although they were excited to meet Dani and have her with them they were a bit apprehensive that it would throw off whatever semblance of balance that they had found.

"What movie're you gonna watch?" Gibbs asked.

Jenny's arms were still wrapped around his waist, albeit much looser than before, and he wasn't going to be the first one to pull away.

"I don't know, it's been awhile since I've seen Casablanca, or maybe The African Queen." Jenny replied.

"If you watch African Queen I'll watch it with you." Gibbs offered.

Jenny pulled back and looked at him in surprise, in the ten years she has known him they had watch maybe two movies together, both times they had been distracted by _other things_ before the movie had even finished.

"And just what do you think you'll be getting out of this?" Jenny asked in mock suspicion.

Gibbs raised and eyebrow at her and smirked, "Get your head out of the bedroom Jen, I just wanna watch a movie with my old partner."

"Alright." Jenny agreed.

She dropped her arms to her sides and stepped away from him, she tried to ignore the slight awkwardness, they had never really been awkward around each other but she wasn't sure how to proceed after spending the last ten minutes just standing in his arms.

"Why don't you get the movie set up while I make some popcorn." Gibbs suggested.

Gibbs watched as she nodded and took a step around him, he watched her go with a small smirk on his face, it had been a long time since he had seen even a hint of her witty side, he had missed it more than he realized.

 **And I'm back! I hope everyone had an awesome summer, here is the first chapter of Today's New Friends! Literally nothing has changed so I still own nothing :( (otherwise Jenny would still be on the show or Gibbs and Jack would be together but anyways…) I hope everyone who is in school has an awesome, and safe, year and for the rest of you it's finally fall! (as a ginger who is allergic to the sun this excites me!) Anyways I love to hear from you guys so please please review! Also feel free to make suggestions for my prompt collection Semper Fidelis.**

 **~Katie**


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

Kelly Anne Gibbs shut the front door behind her and listened for any noise at all, coming home to an empty house had happened once or twice when Jenny had taken Gibbs to a doctors appointment but she had seen all of the vehicles in the driveway on her way in and coming home to a relatively full yet quiet house was unheard of. She had come to realize very early on that there was always something going on in the Shepard-Gibbs household, whether it was Jake and Ava watching TV or playing, Jenny or Gibbs doing something or the members of her father's team coming and going.

She slipped off her shoes and wandered into the empty living room, she couldn't hear anything coming from the dining-room or kitchen so she crossed back over to the den where she found Jenny covered in a blanket sound asleep on the couch, the muted credits to a movie rolling across the screen.

She silently backed out of the room and made her way upstairs in search of her father, she found him in Ava's nursery putting away folded clothes.

"How was school?" Gibbs asked without turning around.

"You know it really freaks people out when you do that." Kelly commented with a grin, "not me but other people and you're putting those in the wrong spot." She added.

Gibbs looked down at the onesie in his hand and sighed, he had done his best to be helpful with the kids but putting away laundry had been Jenny's thing. She liked everything put away a certain way so she could find it in the middle of the night if Ava woke up and needed to be changed, a task that had always fallen on her since Gibbs had been unable to pick Ava up with only one arm.

"Top left drawer." Kelly instructed as she walked over to the crib and picked up Ava who was laying one her back and chewing on her fist. "Is Jenny okay?"

"What do you mean?" Gibbs asked, he closed the dresser drawer and turned to face his daughter.

He tried not to think about how grown up Kelly looked standing there giving him a pointed look, the way Ava was settled onto her hip looked like the most natural thing in the world and that thought unsettled him. His baby wasn't a baby anymore she was growing up right before his eyes, she was already more mature than other kids her age but he had still been able to see some semblance of a child in her physical features but that was quickly disappearing as well. He was struck by the look on her face, not because it reminded him of Shannon as she had been known to do, but because it was so similar to the look Jenny gave him when she was about to tell him to cut the bullshit.

"You look just like Jenny right now." He stated.

"Jenny would say that you're trying to avoid my question." Kelly replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Jenny would probably use a bigger word than avoid."

"Dad." Kelly warned gently, "is Jenny okay?" She asked again.

Gibbs sighed, he didn't know how to answer that without lying to the teen. He and Jenny had both agreed that when it came to Kelly they wouldn't lie to her. She didn't need their protection from the facts and she had Gibbs' ability to see a lie or an omission of the truth for what it was.

They had talked about it and had decided to tell both Kelly and Jake about the baby, they had had very different conversations with each of them but they hadn't wanted it to slip out by accident. Even though they had talked about it Gibbs wasn't sure exactly how much Jenny would appreciate him telling Kelly about what she was going through.

"She's just tired." Gibbs replied.

"I don't doubt that but your eyes are saying there's something more." Kelly replied.

Gibbs hated that he managed to be unreadable to everyone except two of the most important women in his life, Jenny could read him like a book and Kelly did just as well.

"There's just a lot going on Kel, with Dani and both of us going back to work soon."

"She looks sad." Kelly stated quietly, "When she thinks no one's watching she looks sad, everyone says that this is the happiest they've ever seen her but I'm worried about her."

"They're right, this is the happiest she's been in years she loves you and Jake and Ava, we both do."

"But having us, especially Ava and Jake, around reminds her of what she lost." Kelly interrupted.

"No." Gibbs replied firmly, "none of you are a replacement or a reminder of your sister, Jenny loves each of you for who you are, not who you could've been or who you remind her of."

It was a fact that Jenny had been adamant about, Jake and Ava were not a replacement for the child they had lost, they were their own people and they would never be compared to Lillian.

"I just don't want to make things harder for her by being here."

"You're not makin' things harder Kel, you guys are the best thing that could've happened to Jenny and I." Gibbs replied honestly, "you'll get it when you have kids of your own, no matter how bad everything else is your kids are the bright spot."

"So things _are_ bad?"

"Things aren't bad," Gibbs stated with a sigh, "she's grieving Kel, she never dealt with it when it happened and it's just kinda hitting her now."

"Can I do anything for her?" Kelly asked quietly.

"The thing she wants more than anything is to just be treated normally, don't talk to her like she's gonna break." Gibbs replied honestly, "stop worrying about her, it's her job to worry 'bout you, not the other way around."

"I know." Kelly admitted with a small sigh of her own, "I just can't help it, she's lost weight and I don't think she's sleeping except for when she finally just can't stay awake anymore."

"She'll be fine." Gibbs reassured her.

"It's just…" Kelly started, hesitating before continuing. "I don't remember Mom, and I never really had a mother figure growing up, until Jenny showed up. I haven't known her for long but Jenny's pretty much the only mom I can ever remember having and I don't want you to think that means I don't love Mom." She rambled

"But she's not here anymore." Gibbs stated, putting an end to her rambling. "Shannon wouldn't want either of us to stop living just because she's not here, you shouldn't push Jen away just because you're afraid of hurting my feelings or betraying your Mom's memory." He added giving her a pointed look, "'sides there's nothing saying you can't have two moms."

"And that's why I'm worried, I don't think I could handle losing another mom." Kelly admitted quietly.

 **I really really wanted to have a day each week to update and that day was going to be Thursdays and then everything went to hell last week and a I completely forgot to update… So so sorry guys! I hope everyone had an awesome weekend and I hope everyone has a great week, as usual I own nothing but Dani, Jake and Ava but please enjoy! I love to hear from you guys, thank you for your reviews!**

 **~Katie**


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

Jenny chewed on her nail nervously and leaned forward on the porch swing, Gibbs was seated beside her with Ava in his lap, Kelly and Jake were playing catch in the front yard.

"What if she hates me?" Jenny asked quietly.

They were waiting for D'Arcy to arrive with Dani and Jenny had been a nervous wreck since the night before, she had spent most of the night pacing quietly around her room and going over every bad scenario she could come up with.

"She's not gonna hate you Jen." Gibbs reassured her.

"You don't know that." Jenny argued quietly, "What if I can't be a good mom?"

Gibbs turned to her and raised an eyebrow, "And what exactly are you doing with our three other kids?"

"You know what I mean."

"No I don't." Gibbs replied, "you're a good mom Jen, just don't treat her any differently than you do Kel or Jake and you'll be just fine."

"Are we really sure we can handle having another kid?" Jenny asked in a panic.

"Are you trying to tell me you're pregnant?" Gibbs asked, "because I know that we're pretty good at the whole getting pregnant thing but that would be a record even for us."

"Of course I'm not pregnant, what are you talking about?" Jenny asked incredulously.

"Well unless you're pregnant we're not 'having' another kid, way I see it Dani's already a part of the family."

"How are you so calm about this?"

"The same way you were calm when all of this started, the same way you kept a level head when you found out you were pregnant with Lily."

"I was a nervous wreck about Kelly, Jake and Ava and I seriously considered a complete breakdown when I found out I was pregnant with Lilian."

"But you kept it together, I'm not sayin' I'm not nervous but one of us needs to keep it together." Gibbs replied reasonably.

"We didn't even really talk about how we're going to handle this, how are we going to handle rules and punishments?" Jenny asked.

"The same way we handle it with the other kids."

"How involved do you want to be?" Jenny asked slowly.

"That's up to you." Gibbs replied, "I'm not going to ask for more than you're willing to give."

"I want Dani to be treated the same way as everyone else, she deserves that. She shouldn't have to suffer anymore than she already has because I made a bad choice, she deserves to have a father, to know what it's like to have a family."

Gibbs shifted Ava to his other knee and wrapped his now free arm around Jenny's shoulder, he pulled her against his side and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

Jenny stiffened slightly in surprise but quickly relaxed into Gibbs' side, she would never admit it out loud but she liked it when he got into one of his rare touchy feely moods, they didn't have a lot of physical contact but it was nice to know he was there to support her both physically and mentally when she really needed him.

Kelly looked over and grinned at Jenny and her father, Jenny had shifted and tucked her feet under her to lean against Gibbs who was resting his chin on the top of her head and gently rubbing his hand up and down her arm. She discreetly pulled out her phone and took a picture of the rare moment of quiet between the two.

The sound of gravel crunching brought them out of their quiet moment as Jenny once again stiffened against him before sitting up, she stood up and readjusted her clothes, simple dark wash jeans, a knit cardigan and black boots. Gibbs stood up beside her and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as D'Arcy's car came into view.

N*C*I*S

Daniella Morgan Shepard had spent many of her early years imagining having a family, a big house and lots of room to play, she had given up on that dream around the age of twelve, deciding to accept the hand that had been dealt to her instead. She hadn't known what to expect when she had been told she would be returning to her birth mother, she had spoken to Jenny a few times on the phone and from what she could tell she seemed nice. A part of her was still so angry at the older woman but the little kid in her, the one that dreamed of a family, was begging her to just let herself be happy about the turn of events. She didn't know what she was feeling as D'Arcy pulled up in front of the large victorian house, her eyes fell on a young boy and a red headed teenager who looked a bit older than her before skimming over to the two people standing on the porch steps, three if you counted the baby in the mans arms.

She had seen a few pictures of the family in front of her before, Kelly had sent her them over facebook so she could put names to faces but something about seeing them in person only added to her confusion. She was excited to finally be out of the group home, to be a part of a real family but another part of her was bitter that her mother had obviously decided to start the 'perfect' family even though she hadn't kept her. She knew a bit of Kelly's backstory, she knew that she, Jake and Ava were also foster kids but she couldn't help the small rise of anger that Jenny had decided to help them before her own daughter. She swallowed the anger and bitterness and tried to plaster a small smile on her face as D'Arcy stopped the car.

She grabbed her battered duffle bag off of the floor in front of her and opened the door before stepping out into the cool autumn air.

"There's my favourite family!" D'Arcy exclaimed, "how's everyone doing today?"

"Good! Mom and Dad made chocolate chip pancakes this morning, we were going to put banana's in them too but they make Mommy's tummy upset." Jake informed her, "I have my first soccer game on Tuesday, Mom and Dad are both going to come, it's going to be inside and everything, because it's too cold outside now. Are you Dani?"

"Yeah." Dani replied quietly, feeling suddenly uncomfortable in front of the chattering seven year old and the smiling teen.

"I'm Kelly. It's nice to finally put a face to the voice." Kelly greeted, holding out her hand.

Dani awkwardly shook her hand and stepped back, she had no idea how to act or what to say. She felt out of place in the presence of these people, she regretted her choice of outfit for the day and was fully expecting a scolding as soon as D'Arcy was out of earshot. She was wearing ripped black jeans, a baggy black knit sweater and beat up black combat boots. Her dark auburn hair had recently been cut down to a pixie cut and was sticking up messily, her nose, lip and ear piercings, an industrial bar on top of her left ear, a helix and rook piercing on the other ear as well as lobe piercings on both felt glaringly out of place.

"And Dani this is your mother Jenny, and her partner Jethro Gibbs." D'Arcy stated, "and that little lady is Ava Grace."

"You're so big." Jenny whispered, stepping forward. "I mean not big big, but proportional big." She quickly corrected.

"It's nice to meet you Dani." Gibbs greeted, giving Jenny a minute to pull herself together.

"Why don't we head inside so you can show Dani around?" D'Arcy suggested.

She had done enough of these introductions to know that sometimes families needed a little bit of help to get past the initial awkwardness of the situation. She watched Dani shuffle her feet and adjust her duffle bag.

"I know I've told you guys before but I love what you've done with the house." D'Arcy stated as Jenny closed the front door behind the group.

Dani tried to discreetly look around the room, the foyer was painted a light blue and opened on to a large stair case to her left was what looked like a family room and to her right was a large, bright living room. She took off her boots and followed the group into the living room, the room was bigger than she originally thought, standing in the doorway she was facing a large white fireplace with a grey couch in front of it. The couch was sitting on top of a large grey and white carpet and there were plush high-backed white chairs on either side of the fireplace. Above the fire place were three pictures, in the centre was a picture of large group of people only half of whom she recognized, to the left was a picture of just Jenny, Gibbs, Kelly, Jake and Ava and to the right was a picture of what she guessed to be a much younger Jenny and Gibbs.

"The dining room is this way." Jenny said as she lead them through the dining room.

Dani couldn't help but note how huge the dining room table was, she couldn't even guess at how many people could fit around it if they squished.

"I know it's a huge table." Jenny stated rolling her eyes, "when it's just the five of us, six now it's way too big but when everyone is here we barely fit."

"Everyone?" Dani asked wearily.

"When the older kids come home there'll be ten of us with you, twelve if Ducky and Jimmy come and if Uncle Toby and Emily are here it'll be fourteen." Jake explained as if it was nothing to have that many people in your house on a regular basis.

"Older kids?" Dani asked, "I thought there were only three kids, four if you include me."

"There are eight of us total if you count in my dad's team." Kelly explained, "they're the people who work with him but they're all really close, you'll like them, trust me."

"This is the kitchen." Jenny said, "everything in the cupboards and fridge is fair game, if you're hungry go ahead and grab a snack just try not to eat too close to supper." She added, giving Kelly and Gibbs a pointed look.

"Dad and I are really bad for snacking right before supper." Kelly admitted sheepishly, "although to be fair at least I don't snack during church and ruin my appetite for Sunday dinner."

"It was once." Jenny defended herself, "and it wasn't my fault, Abby had cookies."

"Mom can't say no to cookies." Jake said seriously, "Dad thinks it's funny."

Dani listened to the easy way they talked and bantered with each other and couldn't help but feel like an outsider as Jenny showed them the family room and then led the way upstairs.

"So this is Kelly's room, Ava's is right beside it, Jake's is right here and this is the guest room." Jenny said pointing into each room as she went.

Dani stopped and looked into the guest room, she was interested in the other kids room but something about the guest room caught her attention. All of the guest rooms she had ever seen had either been immaculate and barely lived in or had doubled as storage rooms and had only been used when distant relatives came to town. This guest room looked oddly lived in, like it's occupant had left that morning and would be back in a few hours. The large bed was made up neatly but there were a few stray items of clean laundry folded on it, there was a book laying face down on the bedside table, the desk chair was pulled out slightly with a sweatshirt thrown over it and the bulletin, dry-erase board combo above the desk was covered in pictures and notes.

 _Bring more buns for the next dinner, I'm a growing boy!_

 _~Tony_

 _STOP USING ALL OF THE INK IN THE PRINTER!_

 _~McGee_

 _Stop going through everyone's drawers Tony!_

 _~Ziva_

 _Has anyone seen my left boot? I'm missing one again!_

 _~Abby_

"It's more of a bedroom for the team then a guest room I guess." Jenny stated when she saw Dani looking around, "they haven't spent the night a lot since we moved here but when Jethro was still at his old place they stayed there a lot, this is your room here." She added, leading Dani into a pale grey room.

Standing in the doorway Dani could see the bed, a black metal frame with black nightstands on either side, there was a desk to the right side of the room with a bulletin board over it, to the left was a black dresser sitting directly under a large window. In the far corner of the room was a comfortable looking arm chair with bookshelves on either side, there were a few books on them but they were otherwise bare.

"We left it mostly bare so you can decorate whatever way you want to." Jenny explained, "Kelly and I picked out a few books that you might like, if you like to read that is."

"I like to read." Dani replied, at a loss for what else to say, "this looks great just the way it is, thank you."

It sounded lame even to her own ears but she didn't know what else to say, she felt overwhelmed and wanted nothing more than to be alone for a few minutes.

"Why don't you unpack a bit." D'Arcy suggested, "I'm going to go over a few things with Jenny and Gibbs and then head out if that's okay with you, I'll check back in in a few days, okay?"

"Sure." Dani replied with a small shrug.

"I'll just be in my room if you need anything." Kelly offered after everyone else had filed out, "I know that this can all be a little bit much."

She slipped out of the room before Dani could reply, leaving the younger teen by herself in the bright, clean room. It only took Dani about ten minutes to unpack her meagre belongings, she skimmed through the few books on the bookshelf and actually found a few that she had been wanting to read. Leaving the books she sat down on the edge of the bed, completely unsure of what to do with herself. She sat for about ten minutes before there was a knock on her door.

"I just wanted to check in, see if you needed anything." Jenny said as she entered the room after Dani had called out a quiet 'come in'.

"I'm okay, all of my stuff is put away."

"Okay…" Jenny trailed off, "you're welcome to just hang out in here if you want to be alone but you're also more than welcome to wander around, this is your home now too."

"Where am I not allowed to go?" Dani asked.

By the look on Jenny's face Dani could tell it was a question that hadn't been asked before, the slightly confused and taken aback expression on her face made that obvious.

"You're allowed everywhere." Jenny replied, "I would ask before you go into anyone's bedrooms and don't go through anyones personal drawers but other than that you're free to go where you want, maybe just let Gibbs or I know if you're going outside."

"What about lights out?"

"Lights out? Jake and Ava have bedtimes but as long as you're not being disruptive I think you're probably old enough to decide when to go to bed." Jenny replied.

"When do we have to wake up?"

"When you feel like it." Jenny replied with a shrug, "on school days you have to be up to catch the bus, you decide how long it takes you to get ready and work around that. The bus comes at 7:30, Kelly gets up at 5:30 so she can take her time getting ready, she likes to have a coffee with Gibbs and I before she leaves but Jake doesn't wake up until almost seven he just eats, gets dressed and goes. You're free to choose what you want to do."

"So there's no schedule? No rules?"

"We don't really have a schedule, we're all still new to this and it's hard to make a set daily schedule when everyone has different activities, we've been doing a late Sunday lunch together and then we spend the afternoon just hanging out but that's about as set as it gets here."

Not having a set schedule and structure to her life had been one of the biggest adjustments for Jenny, although her work schedule was hectic and often chaotic and always took over her personal life it was an organized chaos, being home all the time and having three, now four kids was just chaos, there was no organization to it. She had tried to be organized in the beginning but it had stressed her out more trying to be super organized, finally Gibbs had told her to just give it up and she had. She still kept lists and a calendar of where everyone needed to be and when but aside from previously scheduled school and work activities she just went with the flow.

"I try and do groceries on Saturdays and Tuesdays or Wednesdays and you're welcome to come with me but those days tend to change based on Jake's soccer practices, Gibbs' work schedule, how the baby is feeling, who all is home and if anyone has any big tests or assignments coming up."

She often gave up personal time or even basic tasks like grocery shopping to help either Kelly or Jake study, Kelly seemed to learn best when she was teaching so Jenny would clean or attempt to cook supper while Kelly explained whatever she was learning to her. When it came to history or music Jenny had no problems following, even advanced Calculus wasn't too bad but the minute Kelly started talking AP Chemistry or Biology she blanked worse than Gibbs.

"As for rules we do have rules but they're more along the lines of respect everyone, clean up after yourself, don't do anything that could put yourself or anyone else in danger especially when you're doing stuff online. You can tell your friends what Gibbs and I do but it's better if you don't tell people you don't really know, it's just a safety thing. Try not to break stuff if you can help it, I mean accidents happen but try not to be purposefully destructive."

"Can I close my door?"

"Of course." Jenny replied, "you're allowed your privacy and unless you invite us in or give us a reason to have to Gibbs and I will never go in your room without permission, Kelly and Jake both let me go in to put folded laundry on their beds but I never put it away for them, your drawers are your space. If you don't want me going in your room when you're not around I'll just leave the laundry in a basket in the hallway, just try and move it as soon as you get home so no one trips over it."

"We don't do our own laundry?" Dani asked.

"I do it all together because it's easier that way, Kelly will normally help me sort or even throw in loads and fold if I'm really busy but you're welcome to do your own laundry if you're more comfortable with that." Jenny said, "I know that when I was your age I didn't exactly want my parents seeing my underwear, but Gibbs generally stays away from the laundry in favour of other stuff and I personally don't care what you chose to wear for underwear."

Jenny watched Dani blush and look down at her hands and couldn't help but feel a bit bad for making her uncomfortable.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just meant that I'm not here to judge what you choose to wear, underwear or otherwise. Gibbs and I have veto power if whatever you choose is way inappropriate but for the most part as long as everything vital is covered it's your body."

"Do we have any chores?" Dani asked, desperate for a change in subject.

"Not really, keep your room relatively clean, it doesn't have to be spotless but try not to let it be a pigsty either."

"I don't know what your definition of clean is." Dani stated.

"It's your room you have to live in it not me but for example Kelly makes her bed and puts away her clothes everyday but half the time you can't see the floor because she has art supplies everywhere or she's working on an assignment. When she's done she always puts stuff away but there tends to be some sort of project on the go all the time, I get that you might want to get five extra minutes of sleep in the morning instead of making your bed and that's fine, just tidy up when you get home, don't leave dirty dishes that kind of thing."

"Are we allowed to eat in our rooms?" Dani asked in surprise.

"Meals are eaten together in the kitchen or dining room but snacks can be eaten wherever, just bring your dishes back to the kitchen and don't leave crumbs everywhere."

"What's our curfew?"

"I have to talk to Gibbs about that one, it's never really come up." Jenny replied slowly.

Kelly didn't tend to stay out late and if she did it was to go to Tony's to do a movie night with him and the rest of the team, as long as she didn't have school the next day they didn't care how late she stayed out with the team.

"Do you have any other questions?" Jenny asked, "if you think of anything else you can always ask Gibbs or I, our cell and work numbers are written on the fridge downstairs so you can call us if you need us for _anything_." She added when Dani shook her head.

"Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome, I'll let you finish settling in, I'll just be downstairs if you need anything." Jenny offered awkwardly.

Dani nodded and watched Jenny hesitate a minute before she let herself out of the room, from her spot on the bed she could see out her large window that looked out onto the backyard where Gibbs and Jake were measuring a plank of wood. Part of her wanted to go out and ask to help but the other part of her was so afraid of being rejected that she stayed put.

She sat on her bed for another ten minutes before getting up and quietly leaving her room, she slowly made her way down the hallway until she reached Kelly's open door. She stood in the hallway and peeked into the bright room, Kelly's bed was to the far left a bedside table on either side of it with framed pictures on one side and a simple lamp on the other. There was a desk on the right side with a large bulletin board covered in drawings and photographs above it, under the large window looking out over the side yard was a window seat with built in bookshelves on either side. The bookshelves were half full, one with books and the other with miscellaneous knickknacks and art supplies.

"You can come in." Kelly offered.

Dani jumped when the older teen poked her head out of the closet and gestured for Dani to enter.

"I wasn't trying to snoop." Dani stated defensively.

"I know, I used to have a foster sister who would go through my drawers, that's snooping, standing in the hallway is not." Kelly replied.

She stood up and brushed off her pants, clean light wash jeans, Dani noted, paired with a white blouse and grey cardigan.

"Did you get all settled in?" Kelly asked, "I know it can be a bit overwhelming I know my first day was."

"How long have you been here again?" Dani asked, completely ignoring Kelly's question.

"Just over two weeks." Kelly replied.

"That's it? It seems like you've been here for longer." Dani replied as she gestured around the obviously lived in bedroom, "you seem really at home."

"My dad and your mom made it really easy to feel at home." Kelly replied with a small shrug.

Dani looked at her skeptically and tried to figure out how best to phrase the question she wanted to ask.

"Are they really as nice and laid back as they seem?" She finally asked.

"They're both great." Kelly replied, "I wouldn't exactly say they're _laid back,_ they have rules but they're there for a reason and none of them are unfair, half of them you probably won't know until you break them but I've started a list, you can take a look if you want." Kelly offered taking a piece of paper off of the bulletin board and handing it to Dani.

 _Rule One: Never screw (over) your partner. (That one depends on who's saying it)_

 _Rule Three A: Never believe what you're told always double check._

 _Rule Three B: Never be unreachable._

 _Rule Six: Never say you're sorry._

 _Rule Six B: Never quote rule six in front of Jenny. (It irritates her)_

 _Rule Twenty-Eight: It's okay to ask for help._

"Those are just the ones I've figured out, the team has helped a little bit but they're pretty big on letting you figure it out on your own."

"Are these like house rules or something?" Dani asked scanning the list skeptically.

"No, the house rules are pretty simple, clean up after yourself be respectful the usual stuff, these are my dad's rules. He uses them with his team and Uncle Stan and your Mom had them when they worked together too, they aren't hard and fast rules in the house but they're good to live by." Kelly explained.

"Why are there two rule three's?"

"My Grandpa Mike originally had three rules when my dad started with him so dad made sub-rules." Kelly explained, "at least that's what I was told but no one knows whose rules are whose and no one knows what the second rule two is, I don't even know what the first rule two is."

"No one's asked?"

"You can ask all you want but the rules kind of come up when you break them and not before." Kelly replied with a shrug, "it's not like there's a punishment if you break them or anything they're more like guidelines, for us at least."

"So they're not going to snap at me for not knowing them?" Dani asked nervously.

"No!" Kelly assured her quickly, "they really only want what's best for us, I promise they won't just snap on you or suddenly become these horrible people." She added more calmly.

"How do you know? You've only been here for a couple of weeks." Dani reasoned.

"Because I know what my Dad's team has told me, and I like to think I'm a decent judge of character." Kelly replied, "all of them say the same thing, Jenny and Dad can be tough but they're fair and you won't find people with bigger hearts than those two."

"I guess you're right, I think I'm going to go for a walk." Dani replied, "thanks for the talk."

"Any time." Kelly offered with a smile, "my doors always open."

N*C*I*S

Gibbs glanced up from measuring the plank of wood in front of him when he felt a pair eyes on him, he scanned the yard until he saw Dani standing on the back deck. She was looking around hesitantly and pulled the ratty old sweater she was wearing around herself tightly.

"You can help if you want." Gibbs called out casually.

He wasn't quite sure what to think about Dani Shepard, her looks reminded him a lot of a young Jenny the only difference being the darker and much shorter hair but he hadn't spent enough time with her to be able to decide if she had inherited her mothers fiery attitude or quick wit.

"I don't know what to do." Dani replied.

Nonetheless she made her way down the steps and walked over to Gibbs slowly, she stopped ten feet away and shifted her feet and pulled on her sweater again.

"I didn't know what to do either but Dad showed me, he could show you too." Jake offered from his perch on a nearby stack of lumber.

Gibbs looked over at Jake and raised an eyebrow at the boy who had quickly become his son, Jake had helped him measure a few things but had quickly gotten distracted by the pile of lumber he was currently climbing on.

"Maybe I'll just watch for now." Dani said.

Gibbs nodded and decided not to push it, he gestured to a nearby sawhorse for Dani to sit on before going back to his work.

"If you're going to be out here you should probably put on a jacket." Gibbs suggested without looking up.

It was still fairly warm for October but the air had a bite to it that made Gibbs worry about one of the kids getting sick. Jake was bundled up in a fall jacket with a sweater underneath but all Dani had on was her knit sweater with a baggy cardigan over it that didn't appear to be doing anything for warmth.

"I don't have a jacket." Dani muttered.

It was said so quietly that Gibbs almost didn't hear it but he could have kicked himself for just assuming that the teen would have a a jacket.

"Here, take this." He offered.

He pulled off his jacket and removed the thick red USMC hoodie he was wearing and handed it to Dani, the sweater would be warmer than his thin fall jacket. He put his jacket back on and went back to work.

Dani stared at the hoodie in her hands for a few seconds before finally pulling it on, the cold overruling any hesitation.

N*C*I*S

Jenny glanced out the kitchen window and couldn't help the small smile at the sight that greeted her in the backyard. Dani was perched on a sawhorse wearing Gibbs' red hoodie, one of her favourites on him, listening intently to whatever he was telling her while Jake played on in the background. Her mind flashed back to the days when she would sit in Gibbs' basement and listen to him discuss facts about a case or go over details of an op they were about to do while he worked on the boat. It was a different time and a different place but even after they had gotten together and she had sat in the basement and watched him work while they were on leave, wearing the same sweater Dani was, she had never once imagined that one day she would see him teaching her daughter, their children about the thing he loved most.

 **I hope everyone had a great week, as usual I own nothing but Dani, Jake and Ava but please enjoy! I love to hear from you guys, thank you for your reviews!**

 **~Katie**


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

Kelly Gibbs closed the text book in front of her when there was a soft knock at her door, she called out a quiet 'come in', knowing Ava had just gone down for her afternoon nap, and waited. She wasn't surprised when it was Jenny who stepped into the room and shut the door quietly behind her.

"I need a bit of a favour." Jenny stated, "I know you don't like asking for things or having money spent on you but for today I need you to pretend that it's okay."

"I take it Dani rejected your offer to go shopping." Kelly replied with a raised eyebrow.

"You look just like your father right now,." Jenny commented with a grin, "I haven't even asked her yet, I don't think she would respond very well, she seems to have warmed up to you though." She added sheepishly

"I don't think she hates me." Kelly stated with a shrug, "she seems to like Dad and Jake though."

Dani had spent most of the morning outside watching the boys work, she had never actually tried to help but every time Kelly looked outside the younger teen had been trailing behind her father and younger brother watching what they were doing.

"Your father has a way with kids." Jenny said, "it's something I've always admired about him, but I don't think that'll help in this situation."

"Probably not." Kelly agreed, "I won't lie to her if she asks me if I'm okay with you guys spending money on me, I appreciate that you do it but I still have a hard time accepting it and you guys both know that."

"I don't want you to lie to her, I phrased that wrong, I just want her to know that it's okay to accept help when you need it and I think yours is the only opinion that will matter to her in this case." Jenny corrected.

"When do you want to go?" Kelly asked as she sat up more on her bed.

"Sooner rather than later." Jenny replied, "I want us to be able to take our time."

"Let me get changed and then I'll talk to Dani."

N*C*I*S

Dani dropped her handfuls of shopping bags on the bed, she couldn't believe the sheer amount of clothing Jenny had insisted on buying, everything from school clothes to a few outfits appropriate for church if Dani wished to attend to two different coats and a snow suit that Dani wasn't sure she would ever wear. The shopping trip itself hadn't been horrible, it had actually been mildly enjoyable even if Dani was slightly uncomfortable with how much money Jenny had spent of her.

Jenny had never insisted Dani buy anything she didn't like, she had let her choose exactly what she wanted and what suited her style. She had never judged or argued when Dani had eyed a pair of ripped jeans or a band t-shirt that she knew Jenny herself would never wear, she had simply walked over to the rack and found Dani's size.

They had passed a jewelry store that Jenny had immediately steered them into, Dani had walked out with a new industrial bar and Kelly had found a simple pair of earrings that suited her perfectly. Dani had never had anyone simply accept the way she dressed but Gibbs and Jenny had never even flinched at the sight of her piercings and clothing, Kelly had complemented her choices while they were shopping and Jake had openly admired her nose ring.

She carefully put away all of the clothes and then sat at the end of her bed, she still didn't know what to do with herself, her afternoon out with Jenny and Kelly had helped her get to know them better but she still didn't feel comfortable just wandering around the house like she belonged there.

It was another twenty minutes before there was a light knock on her door followed by Kelly poking her head in.

"I just wanted to let you know that we're starting supper soon, you can stay up here if you want to but you're more than welcome to join us." She offered, "Dad's making steaks and Jenny's trying her hand at roasted potatoes and carrots, I make no promises about how they turn out though."

"Does she not know how to cook?" Dani asked.

"The basics yes, anything past that, well she's learning." Kelly replied with a grin, "she's doing really well." She added, her tone more serious.

"I'm not great at cooking but I can set the table." Dani offered, "if you show me where everything is."

"Not a problem, I can show you while I monitor Jenny, just to make sure she doesn't burn down the house or something crazy."

"Where are Jake and the baby?" Dani asked as she got off of her bed.

She was quickly realizing that quiet was something that did not exist in the Shepard-Gibbs household, but the house was relatively silent at that moment.

"I think they're in the kitchen, Jake's working on a project and Ava was playing in her bouncy chair last time I checked."

Dani followed the older teen down the stairs and into the kitchen where sure enough Jake was working at the kitchen table while Jenny cut potatoes and Ava watched from her chair.

"I've brought another recruit." Kelly announced with a grin, "hey you turned on the oven without burning down the house." She added, winking at Jenny.

Jenny's cooking abilities had come a long way in a short amount of time but Kelly still liked to tease Jenny about it, and Jenny was more than happy to tease back about Kelly's inability to play any sort of sport. They were never mean or disrespectful to each other but both had a healthy sense of humour and enjoyed the bantering.

"The real test is going to be whether your dad burns down the house cooking his steak." Jenny replied with a grin.

"Dad likes to cook steak in the fire place." Kelly explained, "It's a little unorthodox but it's really good."

"I'm done this part, can I please go help Daddy now?" Jake spoke up from the table.

"Go ahead, grab a jacket first." Jenny called after the boy who was already half way to the front door.

"What's Dad doing?" Kelly asked, scooping Ava up out of her bouncy chair, where she was quickly growing restless.

"He's checking out that old back shed, he's thinking of turning it into a work shop." Jenny replied, "I think it used to be a small barn."

"It looked like there might have been stalls or something in there at one point." Kelly replied, grabbing a carrot to peel, "you should check it out some time Dani, it's back just behind the tree line it's pretty cool, it's got a loft and everything."

"Could I go now?" Dani asked, "I won't be long and I'll set the table as soon as I get back."

"Go ahead, you can go out whenever you want, just tell one of us and take your time, supper's not going to be ready for at least an hour." Jenny replied, "just grab a jacket, it's starting to get cold out now."

The weather was starting to turn from cool to downright cold and the last thing Jenny needed was for one of the kids to get sick.

Dani nodded and headed upstairs, she grabbed a sweater and pulled her fall jacket over it, she pulled on her boots and made her way back downstairs and out the front door. She didn't know if she would ever get used to the size of the house or the property, she had gone from living in a group home full of other girls where privacy was non-existent to living in her own room with an entire house and property to wander around freely. She followed Kelly's directions and wandered through the colourful trees, admiring the bright fall colours until she found a slightly run-down but still sturdy looking barn.

She could hear Gibbs and Jake inside and stepped through the open door to find Gibbs testing the ladder that lead up to what looked like a loft.

"It looks okay, but I want you to wait to go up until I can test all of the boards." Gibbs warned, "some of them might need to be replaced and I don't want you falling through."

"Yes, Sir." Jake replied seriously, "can I help you fix it up?"

"I want to get your tree house done first but sure after that we can work on it."

"Are you going to move your boat here?" Jake asked, looking around the large barn.

"You have a boat?" Dani asked without thinking.

Gibbs looked over at her in surprise, he had heard her come in but he had been expecting her to watch silently as she had done earlier that morning.

"I'm building one." He explained.

"Like in a marina?" Dani asked.

"In my old basement." Gibbs replied, "no I'm not kidding." He added when he saw Dani's raised eyebrow and incredulous look.

"That's… Cool." She finished slowly.

She had always enjoyed hands on work, she had never tried to build anything but she had always wanted to try. The idea of fixing something that was broken appealed to her, she didn't know why but while other girls her age were reading _Seventeen_ and _Vogue_ she had read magazines about building and home decor.

"So, _are_ you going to move it here?" Dani asked, gesturing vaguely around the barn.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs looked around the space and shrugged, he wasn't sure if he would ever take his boat out of the basement, he still loved to work with wood and build things but his boat had always been an escape from his demons. He was still haunted by past cases and regrets but being surrounded by kids and having Jenny around helped him to cope better than a boat ever could. He didn't doubt that he would still need a place to go to clear his mind when things got particularly difficult or gruesome at work or when he and Jenny inevitably had a big fight but maybe he would start a new boat, one that he could eventually go out on with his family, one made with happy thoughts in mind.

"Maybe, might start a new one though." He finally replied.

"Are they hard to make?" Dani asked.

"They're not easy, but I can teach you." He offered, "if you want to learn."

"Maybe." Dani replied slowly, "what're you going to do if you don't make a new one?"

"Well I still want to get this place cleaned and fixed up, it'll make a good work shop for little things if not a boat." Gibbs replied, "is your mom working on supper?"

"It looked like she and Kelly were getting started, I did offer to help but she said that it would be okay if I wanted to come out here for a bit." Dani replied.

"I doubt there was a whole lot to do, but I need to head in and get the fire going for the steaks, wanna give me a hand?"

"Sure." Dani agreed with a shrug.

"Can I help too, Dad?" Jake asked, leaning against Gibbs' side as they started to walk.

"Don't see why not." Gibbs replied ruffling the boys hair.

Gibbs wrapped his arm around Jake's shoulder and pulled the boy tighter against his side. After losing Kelly he had never really considered having more children but before the accident he and Shannon had discussed having another baby and a small part of him had hoped if they did have another child it would be a boy. He loved Kelly and would have been just as pleased with another girl but the idea of having a son had appealed to him, the idea had died with Shannon though.

There had been a brief moment with Jenny when he had thought about having a family with her, but he had quickly gotten over that when she had left him. Never in his wildest dreams imagined that he would not only have his daughter back but have two more daughters and a son, the fact that Jenny, the one woman he had really loved since Shannon, was standing by his side to raise _their_ children never ceased to amaze him. He didn't care if he and Jenny never moved past a completely platonic relationship, he was just grateful to have her by his side when things got rough, he was thankful he had his best friend back.

 **Guys! I managed a weekly update two weeks in a row! I hope everyone had a great week, as usual I own nothing but Dani, Jake and Ava but please enjoy! I love to hear from you guys, thank you so much for all of your reviews!**

 **~Katie**


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**

Jenny had just finished pulling on a pair of comfortable pyjama bottoms, extremely grateful to be rid of her jeans, when there was a light knock on her door.

"The baby's asleep." Gibbs whispered, poking his head in, "the girls are just setting up the DVD thing if you're still up for a movie."

"I just want to change my shirt and I'll be right down." Jenny promised, trying and failing to stifle a large yawn.

"We don't have to do a movie tonight, maybe it would be better if you went to bed."

"You're doing it again." She warned gently, "I'm a bit tired but I'll live."

"I'm trying not too." He replied, his own way of apologizing without breaking his precious rule six.

"I know." She responded with a sigh, "I know you're trying and I'm trying to remember that, I just-"

"Want everything to go back to normal." Gibbs finished for her, "I don't think things will ever go back to the way that they were, Jen, normal isn't going to be the same now, we have to find a new normal."

"I know." Jenny admitted, "I know things need to change but I just don't want this to be a part of our new normal."

"What do you mean this?" Gibbs asked.

"You worrying about me, you never used to worry about me."

"I've always worried about you, Jen-"

"But you always trusted me enough to handle it on my own." Jenny cut him off, "it's like you don't see me as capable anymore."

"I know you're more than capable." Gibbs quickly assured her.

"Then what is it?" Jenny asked.

"It's not just us anymore." Gibbs replied with a shrug, "big difference between you not being okay then and now."

"I'm just tired, but I promise I will tell you if something is really wrong." She promised, looking him directly in the eyes so he knew she wasn't lying.

"Alright." Gibbs replied with a small nod, "I'll go check on on the girls."

"Where's Jake?" Jenny asked, digging through a drawer for her favourite shirt.

"He was taking a shower the last time I checked." Gibbs replied, "I'll make sure he's okay too."

N*C*I*S

After checking on Jake, Gibbs made his way downstairs, he stopped outside of the den and listened to the girls giggling. He couldn't hear what they were talking about and he was pretty sure he wouldn't want to know but the sound of them laughing together made him smile.

He let his mind wander as he listened to them until he felt a hand on the small of his back, he turned his head and smirked at Jenny who was watching him with an amused grin.

"It's a nice sound isn't it?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, it is." He replied.

He draped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into his side, his smirk changed to a grin when she leaned against him and wrapped her arm around his waist.

"It's weird to think that we made them." She whispered, "I can't wrap my head around it."

Gibbs grinned and placed a kiss on the top of her head, he silently agreed with her, he would look at Kelly and wonder exactly how he'd had a part in creating such an amazing person.

"If you guys are done listening to us and playing grab ass the movie is all set up!" Kelly called from the den, "we're watching the Incredibles."

"On second thought I have no problem believing she's yours." Jenny stated, rolling her eyes.

"I was just about to say she sounds like you." Gibbs replied with a smirk, "do you guys want popcorn?" He asked sticking his head into the den.

"Can you watch a movie without popcorn?" Kelly asked dramatically.

"See." Gibbs said looking at Jenny pointedly, "you sound like your mother." He called out to Kelly

Gibbs had been making an effort to refer to Jenny as Kelly's mother whenever he could, he knew that Jenny could never replace Shannon but he wanted Kelly to know that it was okay for her to see Jenny as her mother and he wanted Jenny to know that she was allowed to be a mother to Kelly, that he wouldn't be angry with her for it.

"You say that like it's a bad thing!" Kelly called back, "also you might be in danger now!"

Sure enough when Gibbs looked down Jenny was looking up at him with a raised eyebrow, but he could tell it wasn't because of what he had said but because of what he had referred to her as.

"Her mother?" Jenny whispered.

"No rule saying she can't have two mothers." He replied as he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Thank you." She responded quietly.

N*C*I*S

Jenny cringed when she knocked a tin pie pan off of the counter, she had gotten up extra early to make a peach pie. It was the one thing she knew how to bake perfectly, it had been her fathers favourite and Dani had admitted that it was also one of her favourites.

"Not that I'm complaining but is there a reason you're making a pie at 0500?" Gibbs asked, his voice heavy with sleep.

"I'm sorry, I thought you slept upstairs last night." Jenny apologized quickly.

"I did, I was already up when you came down."

He had slept in the guest room the night before so he could be close enough to get up with Ava so Jenny could have a break, a move which had been pointless since Ava had finally slept through the night.

"Are you making peach pie?" He asked, looking at the ingredients spread out on the counters.

Jenny grinned at the excitement in his voice, barely noticeable to any other person but she knew him well enough to know how much he loved her peach pie.

"Yes, but it's for lunch." She said firmly, "Which means no you cannot have a piece for breakfast."

"I wasn't going to ask." He replied, somewhat sheepishly "do you need any help?"

"You could make coffee." She suggested.

"I meant with the pie." Gibbs stated.

Jenny only grinned and shook her head at him, she wanted to be able to say that she made the pie by herself; she wanted to be able to do this one thing, no matter how small, for her daughter. She worked on her dough while Gibbs prepared the coffee, within a few minutes he was sitting at the island with the paper and his coffee, reading and enjoying the companionable silence.

"Looks good." He stated as she added the top crust to both of the pies.

She had ended up making two pies, deciding that extra wouldn't hurt and would be good for lunches if it didn't all get eaten.

"Thank you, I can't do a lot in the kitchen but I can do this." She replied, placing the pies in the oven before closing the door.

Gibbs smirked and went back to reading the paper, he watched her clean up out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him at the sight of her. She was still in her pyjamas with a white and red checkered apron over top, her hair was pulled up in a messy bun that was now streaked with white from the flour she had been using.

He was just about to turn his attention back to the paper when he noticed something dangling from around her neck. It took him a minute to place what it was but as soon as he did he reached out and gently grabbed the two rings that were dangling from a delicate chain.

"You kept them." He stated, gently turning the two gold rings between his fingers.

Jenny stopped what she was doing and reached up to close her hand around the rings, it had become habit to hide them, even when she knew it was pointless.

"I couldn't make myself get rid of them." She replied quietly, "especially not this one." She added, holding the engagement ring between her fingers.

The wedding ban had been NCIS issued for their undercover work in Europe, they had also been issued an engagement ring which she had lost when she had been shot, two weeks later Gibbs had replaced it with a different one.

"I know you don't want to get married but consider this a promise." He had said, holding out the box.

"A promise for what?" Jenny had asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

"A promise to be here, no matter what." Gibbs replied, "even when things get hard." He added, nodding at her leg.

"And when we go back?" Jenny asked, "when we're back in the office and the real world?"

"We figure it out, as a team." He'd promised.

And he had kept his promise, it had been her to run with things had gotten hard and she had always promised herself that eventually she would send the rings back. Then she had lost Lillian and they had brought her a small amount of comfort, and then she had gotten hurt in Cairo and she had clung to them as a reminder of better times, eventually it would have been weird to send them back so she hung on to them and only brought them out for luck or when she was feeling overwhelmed.

"You should take them back." She stated moving to undo the change, "I should have sent them back years ago."

"Do you still wear them?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"Only on the chain, when I need a reminder." She answered honestly.

"A reminder?"

"That at one point we were okay, we were good, everything was okay."

"We're good now." He replied.

"We're doing better but these last couple of years have been hard, Jethro."

"I don't think it was ever easy." He replied, "but we did it together, we've always done it together."

"To some extent." She said, grabbing his mug and taking a sip.

"We're figuring it out." Gibbs stated with a shrug, "nothing is perfect but we're a team."

"We are." Jenny agreed quietly.

Even when things had gotten hard they had managed to stay a team, nothing close to what they had once been but it was better than nothing. She had stood by his side when he had lost his memory and when he had left for Mexico and he had silently stood by her through the La Grenouille debacle, he hadn't been openly supportive but he had done everything he could to protect her from greater fallout, he had stood by her when everything had exploded two weeks ago and he continued to be a pillar for her.

"The promise is still there, Jen." He stated, "that hasn't changed."

"Thank you for that." She replied, playing with the chain.

"You could, you could still wear it if you want to." He added slowly.

She rarely seen or heard Gibbs hesitate about anything but she could tell that he had struggled to get that sentence out.

"Maybe when we're at home."

She knew she couldn't wear them at work, it would raise way too many questions but she couldn't see a problem with wearing them at home and she didn't want to hurt Gibbs' feelings or destroy what little connection they had by turning down his offer.

N*C*I*S

He watched her reach up and undo the chain, she carefully removed the rings and held them in the palm of her hand. He watched as she hesitated before sliding them on to her left ring finger and couldn't help the small smile that spread across his face. He had gotten so used to seeing them on that finger that he had had to adjust when she had come back to the states, her finger bare. They had been there since before they had become more than just friends and partners, a prop to help their cover, but eventually they had become a constant, a reminder that no matter what they were a team and seeing them on her finger now reminded him that even though their world was completely different they were still a team.

It had never been about marriage with Jenny, it had never been about replacing someone who was irreplaceable it had always been about teamwork, friendship and eventually love, the rings had never symbolized a real marriage but rather their commitment to each other as partners.

N*C*I*S

Jenny shifted Ava to her other hip and rolled her eyes as she listened to Tony and McGee bickering, they had just gotten home from church and everyone was hungry and antsy from sitting still so long.

"It's like having seven toddlers." Jenny muttered to the baby who was making a grab for her hair.

Gibbs was upstairs making sure Jake was changing out of and hanging up his church clothes properly, the girls, Palmer and Ducky were all in the kitchen setting the table and making sure lunch was ready and Tony and McGee were fighting over the correct way to build a fire. There were only two people missing from their gathering and from the streak of red that flashed past the window Jenny was willing to bet they had arrived.

She made it to the front door just in time to watch it fly open to reveal Emily Fornell.

"Sorry we're late, someone forgot we were supposed to come over." She apologized breathlessly.

"Hi Em, hello Tobias." Jenny greeted with a grin.

"Hi Aunt Jenny." Emily replied, "Where's Jake?"

"He's upstairs with your uncle, everyone else is in the kitchen." Jenny responded, stepping out of the way so Emily could take off towards the kitchen.

"How're you doin' Jenny?" Fornell asked, slipping off his shoes before holding out his hands to take Ava who went happily.

"I'm good, Ava finally slept through the night last night."

"Are you finally behaving for your Mom?" Fornell asked, brushing Ava's wispy hair out of her face.

"No but she slept through the night." Jenny replied with a laugh, "they're all really good." She added more seriously.

"You two got lucky." Fornell replied, "How have things been with Dani?" He asked quietly.

"Okay, she seems to get along well with the other kids." Jenny responded.

"And you and Jethro?"

"She likes Jethro." Jenny replied slowly, "I don't think she's too fond of me yet."

"You'll get there." Fornell promised, "she's a teenage girl, even in a normal situation she's not supposed to like you and this isn't a normal situation."

"That's the thing, it's not like she doesn't like me, she's just indifferent." Jenny replied, "she talks to Jethro, she likes Kelly, she doesn't seem to really connect with the baby or Jake yet but she'll talk to them, she doesn't talk to me unless she has to."

"It takes time, Jenny." He reminded her gently, "it's been a day, she's probably feeling overwhelmed and she's never been part of a family before."

"That's my fault." Jenny whispered, "what if she never wants to be a part of our family?"

"She will, you guys are pretty hard to ignore." Fornell reminded her with a grin, "this family is a circus but it's a circus you want to be a part of, no matter what."

"Maybe." Jenny replied, running her hand through her hair, "I just don't know how to help her."

"How did you help Kelly?" Fornell asked, shifting Ava to his other hip.

"I don't know." Jenny replied with a sigh, "I honestly can't remember, it was so hectic, with Jethro in the hospital and everything going on with work."

"You listened, you were there for her when she needed you." Fornell replied, "do the same for Dani and I'm sure it'll all work out."

"Thank you, Tobias." Jenny replied quietly.

N*C*I*S

"Alright!" Tony exclaimed loudly enough to get everyones attention.

They had just finished cleaning up after lunch and everyone was milling around the kitchen, debating what to do with the afternoon.

"We have a bit of a surprise for you and Jenny Boss-Man." Abby announced, "the kids already know about it and have agreed to help us out for the afternoon, all we need for you two to do is go upstairs and put on the outfits we laid out on Jenny's bed."

Jenny cast Gibbs a curious glance but he only shrugged, obviously just as out of the loop as she was. Abby clapped her hands together and bounced excitedly on her heels.

"Everyone else needs to run and get changed and we'll meet outside in five minutes, Jenny and Gibbs you guys have twenty minutes to get ready, make yourselves look pretty and don't ask any questions."

Abby had been planning this afternoon for the last two weeks, she had called in a good friend to come and take family pictures of the team and of Gibbs and Jenny and the kids. The only pictures they had as a family didn't include Dani and although they were nice Abby was sure that Jenny and Gibbs would appreciate having some professional family photos. Her only hope was that they would enjoy the surprise, Kelly had helped her orchestrate the entire thing, and thankfully the entire thing had come together without a hitch.

Abby watched Jenny open her mouth to protest but quickly held up her hand to silence her.

"We've got everything under control, you two go and get dressed, we'll see you in twenty minutes."

N*C*I*S

Jenny rolled over tucked her arm under her pillow, it had been an exhausting but very rewarding day. Jenny had been amazed when she had walked out the back door after lunch to find the entire team, including Tobias, Emily and all of the kids wearing relatively matching outfits. Almost everyone had worn jeans, some dark wash, some light, while Abby and Dani had both opted for black, everyone's shirts were varying shades of either white, blue or red. Abby and McGee had both worn dark blue, Abby with a black sweater over it and McGee with a black and blue striped tie, Kelly had opted for a white long-sleeved t-shirt with a red and black plaid scarf, Ava had been in a maroon knit dress with white tights and little brown boots, and Jake had worn a red and black plaid shirt while Dani had chosen a dark red knit dress with black leggings. Tony and Ziva had both worn white shirts, Tony's paired with a dark blue sports jacket and Ziva's with a pale blue cardigan. Jenny had ended up in dark wash jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt and a flowing red, white and navy blue tartan sweater vest, Gibbs had ended up in dark jeans and dark red and navy blue plaid shirt with his customary white undershirt showing. Tobias and Emily had both been in white shirts, Emily's had been paired with a black sweater and Tobias had worn a black jacket. Ducky had worn a white button up and the maroon suspenders and bow tie he had worn the day they had gotten the kids and Palmer had followed with a white button up and a maroon tie.

She had been amazed at how much thought they had all put into giving them the perfect gift, the kids had behaved amazingly throughout the entire process standing for pictures for over an hour before being allowed to go play. The team had hung around for another hour after they had finished taking pictures before going their own ways to finish what was left of their weekend.

Despite the exhausting day Jenny had been tossing and turning for the last three hours, no matter what she did she couldn't shut off her brain. She kept thinking about all of the possible outcomes of her meeting with SecNav the following morning, if she wasn't thinking about that she was worrying about how Dani's first day at a new school was going to go.

She sat up in surprise and flicked on her bedside lamp when there was a soft knock on her door, she climbed out of bed and grabbed the sweater that was hanging on the back of her bathroom door. She opened her door to her bedroom a crack and raised an eyebrow at Gibbs who was standing on the other side.

"I thought you were one of the kids." She whispered, she opened the door enough to let him in before she closed the door behind him, "is everything okay?"

"I was checking on the baby, heard you tossing and turning." He replied, "wanted to make sure you were good."

"I just couldn't sleep." She replied, "what about you, why are you up."

"No boat." He stated with a small shrug.

She knew he was having a hard time not having something to calm his mind, especially at night.

"There's bourbon in my office if that'll help." She offered.

She knew that he used bourbon to relax just as much as he used his boat, she had done the same thing and she wanted a good shot of bourbon more than anything at that moment.

"Nah, don't need it." He replied, "What about you?" He asked, noting the way she was grasping her forearms to keep from shaking.

It had taken him a week after he had gotten home to figure out that Jenny had given up alcohol, although she had gotten through the withdrawal he could still see the shaking when she desperately wanted a drink and he knew she smoked when no one else was around and she was desperate.

"I need it but I'll survive without it." She replied slowly, "I might go for a little walk."

"It's three in the morning, Jen." Gibbs pointed out with a raised eyebrow, "if you need a smoke just say you're going for a smoke."

"How did you-"

"You only ever chew gum after you smoke." He cut her off.

She had done a good job of hiding the fact that she was smoking again, he had only figured it out because he knew that the only thing she hated more than gum was having bad breath from smoking.

"I don't do it all the time."

"You don't need to defend yourself." He said quietly, "Everyone has ways to cope."

He had knew that he couldn't judge her, she had an overwhelming amount of crap on her plate and she had given up her greatest source of stress relief. She never let smoking become an addiction for her and he knew that, she only had a cigarette when she was really desperate, maybe five times a week at the most.

"I think I need to cope." She whispered.

She felt weak even admitting it but she was starting to feel more desperate the longer she stood there. It had been a crazy weekend and her body was exhausted, her mind however was running a million miles a minute.

"I'll go out with you." Gibbs offered, "could use some fresh air."

"Alright." Jenny replied reluctantly.

She grabbed her cigarettes out of her bedside table and dug around for her lighter before following Gibbs down the stairs. They made their way on to the back deck, Jenny took a seat on the step and lit her cigarette. She took a drag and slid over slightly when Gibbs settled beside her.

"It's been a while since we've done this." She muttered, "Serbia, I think."

"Yup." Gibbs replied quietly, "I think it was a bit colder though."

"I don't know, it's pretty cold tonight." Jenny responded as a shiver ran through her.

Gibbs hesitated for a minute before he wrapped an arm around Jenny and pulled her into his side, he felt her shiver again and gently rubbed his hand up and down her arm.

"This is feeling more and more like Serbia." She whispered as she took another drag, "are you going to try and get me into bed after this?"

"Only to sleep." He promised.

"How disappointing." Jenny replied sarcastically.

Gibbs snorted and pulled Jenny tighter against his side, he was glad that they were back in a place where they could laugh and joke together. He loosened his grip so Jenny could put out her cigarette, he dropped his arm when she moved to stand.

"As much as I want to stay out here it's a bit too cold for that." She stated.

Gibbs followed her back into the house and watched as she rubbed her hands together roughly, he reached out and grabbed her hands between his in an attempt to warm them.

"Are you sleeping on the couch tonight?" Jenny asked suddenly.

"Yeah." Gibbs replied with a shrug.

"You really should sleep in a bed, Jethro."

"Bed's too big."

Jenny nodded in understanding, she hated how big her bed felt, especially on nights when she was stressed or couldn't sleep.

"You could sleep in my room." She offered hesitantly.

She knew it was a bad idea, probably one of her worst but she just wanted a good nights sleep and the only night she'd had a good sleep had been when she and Gibbs had had to share a bed after he had come home from the hospital. They had both stayed on their respective sides of the bed and it had been completely innocent but it had been the best night of sleep she'd had in years.

"I'll keep my hands to myself." She promised, "I just figured the bed wouldn't seem too big then."

She didn't give him a chance to respond before she had turned and started making her way up the stairs, it took a minute but by the time she reached the top step she could hear Gibbs following her. She stepped into her room and left the door open so Gibbs could step in before she closed the door, leaving it open only a crack so she could hear if one of the kids woke up.

"You're not wearing those pants in my bed." She muttered, casting a glance at Gibbs' paint splattered sweatpants.

"Trying to get me naked?" Gibbs asked with a smirk.

"You're wearing boxers but nice try."

N*C*I*S

Gibbs grinned and pulled off his pants and sweatshirt so he was wearing only his boxers and a NIS t-shirt, he tossed them on the bench at the end of the bed and climbed into what had always been 'his' side of the bed and waited for Jenny to turn off the lamp on her side of the bed. As soon as the room went dark he rolled over onto his side and watched Jenny try to get comfortable.

"Sure you're going to be able to sleep with me here?" He asked quietly.

"Yes." She replied, rolling over so she could face him, "how's your shoulder?"

Gibbs stiffened slightly when she reached out and gently placed her hand on his injured shoulder, they hadn't talked about the shooting itself, they had been working on dealing with fallout but the actual event hadn't been discussed.

"Bit sore." Gibbs admitted honestly.

He had been doing his best to be completely honest with Jenny, he certainly wasn't an open book but if she asked a question he did his best to answer it with more than one word. He waited for her to drop her hand from his shoulder but she simply let it slide down to rest on his elbow. He could tell she was having a moment of internal conflict about what she was going to do next. He knew she secretly enjoyed it any time he initiated physical contact but she absolutely refused to ask for it. He knew she thought it was weak to need a shoulder to lean on, and she had never been a particularly cuddly person but after spending the last month of living with her he could tell that that had changed.

He decided to give her a break and rolled onto his back, he raised his arm in an invitation and smiled when she scooted closer to him and rested her head on his chest, her hand coming to rest over his heart. He debated making a comment about her promise to keep her hands to herself but he decided against it. He was enjoying having her so close and he didn't want to give her a reason to pull away, instead of making a comment he ran his hand up and down her side and listened to her breathing even out.

 **Hey guys I'm so sorry about the delay I've been insanely busy with school and work lately but I thought I'd give you your update tonight even though it's not Thursday, this isn't my favourite chapter but I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer so here you go! Thank you all for your reviews they make my day! (Please remember I don't own anything)**

 **~Katie**


	6. Chapter 6

**Six**

Warmth was the first thing she noticed, the next thing she noticed was the hand on her stomach and the firm chest against her back, she sighed happily and burrowed deeper under the covers. It had been a long time since she had woken up feeling that content and safe, she knew that in about ten minutes the anxiety would settle back in and she would be forced to face the real world but for the remainder of the time before her alarm she was happy to enjoy the comforting silence.

"Morning." Gibbs muttered against the top of her head.

"Good morning." She whispered.

"Do you want me to go?" Gibbs asked after a minute of silence.

Jenny shifted and placed her hand on top of his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Not yet." She replied sleepily, "another ten minutes before the alarm."

She could feel Gibbs smirking against her hair and closed her eyes again, she opened them slightly when she heard the door squeak.

"Mommy?" Jake whispered, sticking his head through the crack, "can I come lay for a bit."

"Come on in, baby." She whispered, lifting the blanket up so Jake could crawl under, "did you have a bad dream?"

"No." He replied sleepily as he curled closer to Jenny.

"Just wanted cuddles?" Jenny asked with a small grin.

"Yeah." Jake said through a yawn, "hi Daddy."

"Hey bud." Gibbs whispered, running his hand over Jake's hair.

"Why're you in here? Did you have a bad dream?" Jake asked looking at Gibbs sleepily.

"No." Gibbs replied slowly, "I just wanted cuddles too." He added, grinning when Jenny gave his forearm a gentle squeeze.

"Okay." Jake whispered, "Mommy gives good cuddles."

Jenny smirked when she felt and heard Gibbs let out a small chuckle behind her, she gently pinched his hand in retaliation and reached out to shut off her alarm before it sounded and woke Jake up even more. She was hoping that he would fall back asleep for at least another hour and if she skipped her second cup of coffee she could probably stay in bed for an extra five minutes.

"Kelly must be up." Gibbs muttered as the scent of coffee reached his nose, "I smell coffee."

"It's freaky that you can do that." Jenny replied with a small laugh.

She couldn't smell coffee at all but she was sure that there was some if Gibbs was smelling it.

"She's up early." Jenny commented, glancing at the clock, "even for her."

"It's already 0515, she probably just woke up."

"Go ahead and grab a coffee if you want, I'm going to hop in the shower in a minute anyway."

She could feel Gibbs hesitating for a second, she knew he was enjoying the peace and quiet with her and Jake but also knew that he wouldn't mind spending a bit of extra time with Kelly.

"We'll be late for work if we just lay here forever." She added gently, "besides I'm sure Kel wouldn't mind some time with you."

"Alright." Gibbs agreed a bit reluctantly.

Jenny watched him roll out of bed and pull on his sweatpants, she smiled when he came back around to her side of the bed and dropped a light kiss on the top of Jake's head before leaving the room. She stayed in bed for another minute just to be sure that Jake was asleep before she too left the bed.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs walked into the kitchen fully expecting to find Kelly sitting at the table, reading the paper and drinking a coffee as she normally did in the morning. He was surprised however to see Dani sitting at the island, a cup of coffee in one hand and a book open in front of her, large black framed glasses perched on the end of her nose. She looked up guiltily when she saw Gibbs walk into the kitchen.

"I wasn't trying to snoop, I just couldn't sleep and needed coffee, Kelly showed me where everything was last night." She quickly apologized.

"Don't apologize, it's your home too, if it's in the kitchen it's fair game." Gibbs said holding up his hand, "as long as you made enough to share." He added with a small smirk.

Dani grinned and pointed at the full coffee pot, "it's all ready to go, I hope it's not too strong."

Gibbs poured himself a cup and took a sip before nodding approvingly, the teen would make any marine proud with her coffee making skills.

"It's good." He stated as he opened the paper he had grabbed from the front porch, he pulled out the sports section and left the rest of the paper on the counter.

There was a good natured fight nearly every morning over the political section of the paper, Kelly and Jenny both liked to read it while they drank their coffee and neither one of them wanted to concede and read it online, whoever was up first got politics and the other took the National section and then they switched if there was time.

"What're you reading?"

"The Boy in the Stripped Pyjama's." Dani replied, closing the book.

"That's… Up-lifting." He finished with a raised eyebrow.

"It was one of the ones Kelly and my- Jenny, left in my room." Dani replied, pausing slightly when she'd had to refer to Jenny.

Gibbs nodded, took a sip of his coffee, and unfolded the paper as Dani went back to her book, they read in comfortable silence for ten minutes before Kelly wandered into the kitchen, she made a beeline for the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

"Good morning Daddy." She muttered, placing a kiss on Gibbs' cheek before taking a seat between him and Dani at the island.

"Morning, Kel." Gibbs replied as he slid the political section over to her, "you're lucky your mom hasn't made it down yet."

"Thanks." She muttered through a yawn, "Morning Dani."

"Good morning." Dani replied with a small grin.

"'S good coffee." Kelly mumbled.

Gibbs smirked and shook his head, Kelly was a morning person but it took her at least twenty minutes and one cup of coffee to actually function properly.

N*C*I*S

"Welcome back Director Shepard." Cynthia greeted when Jenny stepped out of her office.

"It's good to be back Cynthia." Jenny replied, offering the younger woman a smile, "although I'm not technically back until tomorrow."

Her meeting with SecNav had gone well, they had come to the agreement that Leon Vance would be officially promoted to Deputy Director, with that promotion he would be responsible for any major decisions regarding the MCRT so that Jenny could never be accused of favouritism. He would be moving to DC permanently to aid Jenny with anything else she may need in the office.

"I know you're not technically back yet but I was looking at your schedule and saw that you have your fire arms evaluation next week." Cynthia said, "I just thought you'd want to know so that you could practice."

"Special Agent Gibbs and his teams have their evals next week too, I'm going to the range with them after lunch." Jenny replied, "thank you for the reminder though."

"You're welcome Ma'am, I'll email you your schedule for the rest of the week." Cynthia offered, "I have it split up between you and Deputy Director Vance so it's fairly light but Vance will be out of town next week to help his wife pack up their house in LA."

"That's fine." Jenny replied with a small smile, "I'm pretty used to doing it on my own."

"Of course Ma'am." Cynthia agreed with a nod.

"Why don't you take a long lunch today, you deserve a break." Jenny suggested.

"Are you leaving for lunch Ma'am? I can call your security detail for you."

"No thank you, I'm going to be staying here."

Cynthia nodded and grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair, Jenny returned to her office as the younger woman took off for a well deserved break. She settled into her desk and opened the file in front of her, Leon had done well with keeping up with paperwork but he had offered Jenny the files to the biggest cases that had been worked in her absence so she could catch up. She was a page away from finishing the report in front of her when her office door opened and shut.

"Special Agent Gibbs, the door is there for a reason." She stated firmly, not looking up from the file.

"The door wasn't all the way closed."

Jenny looked up in surprise when it wasn't Gibbs who was standing in front of her desk but rather Stan Burley.

"I think I see you less now that you actually work in the building." Jenny stated with a small smile, "are you avoiding me?"

She had seen Stan exactly twice in the time following Gibbs' return from the hospital, he had come by the house once to drop something off and she had seen him the day he had come to pick up the keys to Gibbs' house.

"Not you." Stan replied with a shrug, "thought you might like some lunch." He added, holding up a white bag.

"I could use a break." Jenny said.

She closed the file in front of her and slid it into her drawer, rolling her eyes at the tooth pick wrappers in her drawer.

"Conference table or couch?" She asked as she walked around her desk.

"Couch." Stan replied, placing the take out bags on the coffee table, "it's Chinese, I hope that's okay."

"It smells great." Jenny stated.

She sat down on the couch and kicked off her shoes before grabbing the container Stan was passing her. She took a bite and smiled, realizing exactly how hungry she had been.

"So how're things at home?" Stan asked as he took a bite of his shrimp lo main.

"Good, the kids are doing really well." She replied proudly, "you missed dinner yesterday."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I had a thing."

"A thing?" Jenny asked with a raised eyebrow.

She watched Stan shrug and go back to his food without looking at her, she could tell something was bothering him but didn't know how to bring it up or if she even should.

"Is everything okay?" She asked after a few minutes of slightly strained silence.

Stan looked up at her and opened his mouth to respond but quickly shut it when the door opened and Gibbs came walking in.

"Just coming to see if you were ready to go." He stated, looking between Stan and Jenny.

"I just have to change into my boots." Jenny replied, nodding at the heels by her feet, "are you coming with us Stan?"

"Yeah, I gotta go grab my stuff." Stan replied, putting all of their garbage back into the bag before slipping out of the room.

"Can I borrow your extra cap, Jethro?" Jenny asked as she pulled balled up socks, her field boots and her windbreaker out of her cabinet.

"Where's yours?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"At home in my office." Jenny replied, "I was going to grab it this morning but I got distracted checking your son's homework."

"Why's he mine when he's distracting you or doing something bad?"

"Because he learned it from you." Jenny stated as she pulled on her socks and boots, "so may I?" She asked again, pulling her hair back into a pony tail.

"Yeah, it's in my desk." Gibbs responded, "did you know that Dani's reading the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas?"

"No, it was one of the books I gave her though." Jenny replied with a shrug, "why?"

"Just surprised me, seems a bit dark for her age."

"The world is a dark place, Jethro, our kids know that better than anyone."

"I know." Gibbs replied quietly, "just don't want anymore darkness for them than there already is."

Jenny sighed and nodded, she understood what he was saying and completely agreed with him. She could tell by the pained look on his face that he was beating himself up for how hard the kids had had it. She stepped closer to him and gave his arm a gentle squeeze.

"It is not your fault Jethro, what happened to Kelly wasn't your fault."

He placed his free hand on her hip and nodded, deep down he knew there was nothing he could have done but he couldn't push away the feeling of guilt that plagued him every time he thought of his daughter.

"You ready to go?" He asked quietly, "there gonna wonder what we're doing up here."

"They're going to think we're doing something inappropriate." Jenny replied with a laugh.

She grabbed her gun out of her desk and holstered it at the small of her back before following Gibbs down to the bullpen, greeting people as they walked. She stood beside Gibbs' desk while he grabbed his gun and caught the cap he tossed her way.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs grinned as Jenny pulled her ponytail through the back of her cap, he was having flashbacks of her first days at NCIS, the way she was standing there in black pants her NCIS windbreaker and black baseball cap reminded him of a much younger version of herself.

"Look at you Red!" Stan exclaimed with a whistle.

Jenny's green eyes flashed as she winked at him before remembering where she was, luckily only a few agents had noticed the commotion and were looking over at them with raised eyebrows.

"We should send a picture to Deck." Stan stated, pulling out his phone, "who knows when we'll get you in uniform again."

"I can take the picture so you can all be in it." McGee offered.

Gibbs shook his head but moved to stand beside Jenny on one side while Stan stood on the other.

"Come on you guys." Tony goaded, "give it some feeling."

Gibbs rolled his eyes but wrapped his arm around Jenny's waist while Stan draped his over Jenny's shoulder.

"Better?" Jenny asked, looking at Tony with a raised eyebrow.

"Much." He replied with a grin, "you look like you actually know each other now."

"I wasn't aware we were having a photoshoot in the bullpen." A voice deadpanned.

Gibbs turned to look at Leon Vance leaning against the stair railing, he was watching the group with a raised eyebrow and Gibbs could have sworn he saw a hint of a grin.

"Just documenting the reunion of NCIS' dream team sir." Stan replied seriously, "it's a rare opportunity to see the Director in her uniform, we thought it was important to mark the occasion."

"And why are you in uniform?" Vance asked, "Agent Gibbs' team is off call for today and you are not technically back until tomorrow Director."

"We all have our firearm exams next week, we're going down to practice." Jenny explained.

"Care to join us?" Tony asked.

Gibbs shook his head at the cocky tone of voice his Senior Field Agent used, he watched Vance raise an eyebrow as he saw the question for what it was, a challenge.

"Actually, I think I will." Vance replied, rising to the challenge, "I have to grab my stuff but I'll meet you down there."

Gibbs waited until Vance was out of sight before delivering a sharp smack to the back of Tony's head.

"Sorry boss." Tony muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

N*C*I*S

Jenny pushed the cart into the next aisle and smiled as she listened to Kelly as she talked about her day, Jenny had needed to do groceries after supper and Kelly had offered to help while Gibbs stayed home with Dani and the younger kids.

"And we got our Biology tests back, I got a ninty-seven!"

"That's great baby!" Jenny exclaimed, "have you told your father yet?"

"I told him before supper." Kelly replied, "speaking of supper was it just me or was Dani a bit quiet?"

"I noticed it too." Jenny replied with a sigh.

Although Dani wasn't normally talkative she had been almost completely silent during dinner and she had only had one word answers when Jenny asked about her first day at school.

"I'll talk to her when we get home." Jenny added, "if she hasn't gone to bed yet."

"Speaking of going to bed…"

"You're just the master of segues tonight aren't you?" Jenny stated as she studied the shelf in front of her.

"A little birdie told me that Daddy slept in your room last night."

"A little birdie meaning your brother?" Jenny asked.

"Maybe…" Kelly replied guiltily.

"So yes." Jenny replied rolling her eyes, "just to be very clear he was only sleeping."

"Thank you for the clarification however I never, ever, want to know what you and Daddy do in your free time." Kelly stated with a shudder, "I just want you both to be happy."

"We are happy, Kel." Jenny replied, pausing in the middle of the aisle, "What makes you think we're not?"

"I know you're happy... I just don't want either of you to be lonely."

"Kelly there's no chance to be lonely in our house." Jenny replied with a small laugh.

"It's a different kind of lonely."

"I don't want to know how you know that but I also don't want you to worry about your father or I, we're happy with things just the way they are." Jenny reassured her.

N*C*I*S

Jenny pulled into the driveway and her hand fell to her hip when she saw the cab idling in front of the house.

"What the hell." She muttered.

She looked over at Kelly who raised an eyebrow and shrugged, she had no idea who would be showing up after eight-thirty at night.

"Are you and Daddy expecting someone?"

"No..." Jenny replied slowly, "Are you expecting someone?"

"Nope."

Jenny watched as the passenger door to the cab opened and she had to fight back the groan when she saw who stepped out.

"Is that Grandpa Jack?" Kelly asked, squinting at the cap.

"Yup." Jenny replied with a sigh.

Gibbs was going to lose his mind.

 **And now we get into the good stuff... Thank you all so much for your reviews I love love love to hear from all of you and a huge shout out to Esquinzo who has been my sounding board for this story! I just want to remind you guys again that I am accepting prompts for a one shot collection and would love to hear what you guys want to read! Hope everyone had a very happy and safe halloween, have a great weekend! (I own nothing)**

 **~Katie**


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven**

"Jack?" Jenny called as she climbed out of the car.

"There's my favourite daughter-in-law!" Jackson Gibbs exclaimed as the cab pulled away, "and my little Kelly Ann, have you gotten taller?"

"It's only been two weeks since I last saw you Grandpa." Kelly stated with a laugh.

"Well ya look taller, now get over here and give me a hug." He ordered with a grin.

Jenny grabbed her purse and a handful of bags out of the back seat before walking towards Jack and Kelly who were talking happily.

"How've you been Jenny?" Jack asked, "Can I grab some of those for you?"

"I've been good, and no thank you I've got them, you have your suitcase to carry." Jenny replied, "Kelly can you grab the last few bags?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Kelly replied with a mock salute.

"She's a spitfire that one." Jack commented as he watched Kelly jog over to the car.

"She's a lot like her dad." Jenny replied, "What're you doing here Jack?" She asked gently.

She knew Gibbs wouldn't be happy with his father showing up out of nowhere but she was hoping that the blowout would be minimal.

"Jake told me he had his first soccer game tomorrow and I wanted to meet my newest granddaughter, thought this would be a fun surprise."

Jenny fought to hold back a groan, she could understand that Jack thought he was doing a good thing and she hated that they would no doubt have to tell him otherwise in order to avoid another incident like this.

"Come on it's too cold to be standing outside." Kelly called as she walked past them again, "I'll grab your suitcase for you Grandpa."

"I can handle it just fine on my own." Jack replied, "you lead the way."

Jenny followed them inside and listened for any sound to indicate where Gibbs might be, she heard a door close softly upstairs before there were footsteps coming down the hall.

"Kelly why don't you take the groceries into the kitchen and make some tea for your grandfather." She suggested, hoping to get Jack and Kelly out of the way before Gibbs came downstairs.

"Sure, come on Grandpa, Ducky got a really nice Earl Grey."

Kelly and Jack were out of sight by the time Gibbs came down the stairs with Ava in his arms.

"She wouldn't sleep." He stated quietly, "how was grocery shopping?"

"It was good." Jenny replied as she slipped off her shoes and put her purse on the end table by the closet, "where are Dani and Jake?"

"They're both in bed, Jake passed out before his head hit the pillow and Dan said she was tired and went up about half an hour ago."

As much as she had wanted to talk to Dani, Jenny was a bit relieved that she was already asleep, one less thing to deal with.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked when he noticed the way she was avoiding making eye contact.

"You have to promise not to freak out." Jenny stated, "your father is here, he was getting out of a cab when we got home."

She closed her eyes and waited for the explosion but Gibbs only sighed and shifted Ava to his other hip.

"Why's he here?"

"He wanted meet Dani and see Jake's game tomorrow." Jenny replied, "before you ask I have no idea how long he's planning on staying."

"Bit of extra help this week might not hurt." Gibbs stated

"You're handling this really well." Jenny replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Yelling isn't going change anything, 'sides it might be good to have a bit of extra help this week."

Jenny reached out and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead and then to his cheek with a worried expression on her face.

"Who are you and what have you done with my partner?" She asked quietly.

Gibbs smirked and grabbed Jenny's hand from his cheek and gave it a quick squeeze before handing Ava over to her.

"Are you okay with him being here?" Gibbs asked, "it's your house too."

"I don't mind." Jenny replied slowly, "I just don't want any extra fighting or tension." She added.

"I'll be on my best behaviour." He promised, "now let's go and figure out how long he's staying for."

"You go ahead, I'm going to make sure the guest room is cleaned up."

"I'll need to grab clothes for work tomorrow before he goes up."

"I'll grab you something." Jenny offered, "you wear the same six things Jethro I think I can handle it." She added when he started to protest.

"Fine, just throw it in the bathroom down here." Gibbs replied, "I'll sleep on the couch."

"Or you can sleep in my room." Jenny offered quietly, "it'll be better on your back and shoulder than the couch."

"You don't mind?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I did."

"Alright." Gibbs replied, "I'll take her in to see my dad." He added, motioning to Ava.

"You go and see Grandpa with Daddy." Jenny cooed, "And then you need to go to sleep because Mommy really wants a few hours of sleep tonight."

Gibbs smirked at Jenny's baby talk and took the baby back, it was a side of her he was getting to see more and more of but he didn't find it any less entertaining.

N*C*I*S

Jenny walked into the kitchen to find Jack sitting at the table with Ava in his lap, Kelly was seated across from him and Gibbs was leaning against the counter silently watching the three.

"This is one gorgeous little girl you've got here." Jack commented.

"Yeah she's pretty great." Jenny replied as she leaned against the counter, "all of our kids are." She added, shooting Kelly a wink.

"Excuse you, I am absolutely fabulous." Kelly stated indignantly.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Jenny replied with a smirk, "you are fabulous."

She reached over and took Gibbs' cup of tea and took sip, she ignored his raised eyebrow and handed the cup back.

"There is more tea." He muttered.

"If you don't want me keeping you up all night going pee every twenty minutes I probably shouldn't have more than sip."

Jenny couldn't help but laugh at the slightly horrified look on Gibbs' face, she shifted so she was watching Kelly who was telling Jack about her latest assignment at school. She peeked back at Gibbs and smiled softly at the peaceful look on his face.

"What time do you both have to be at work tomorrow?" Jack asked after a few minutes.

"I'd like to be there for six or so." Jenny replied with a sigh.

She wasn't looking forward to going back to early mornings but she knew there was a mountain of paper work sitting on her desk.

"I don't have to be in until 0700." Gibbs added, "I'll make sure the kids are ready for school and take Ava in with me to the daycare."

"I can watch her for the day." Jack offered, "Jake's game is at three isn't it?"

"Are you sure, Jack?" Jenny asked, "she's teething right now and can be a bit of a handful."

"I'm positive, it's been awhile but I've been through it before and it'll be nice for her to be in a familiar place if she's not feeling good."

Jenny looked over at Gibbs who simply shrugged.

"Alright, thank you, Jack." Jenny said before turning to Kelly, "are you taking the car to school tomorrow?"

"If that's okay with you." Kelly replied, "I have to be there a bit early and I think Dani has to be too."

"That's fine, I'll use my driver your dad can take the truck and we'll leave the SUV for you Jack."

They had debated for awhile on buying a new vehicle but the decision to take Dani had sealed it for them, they needed the extra room so they had opted for an eight seater SUV. They had decided to keep both Jenny's car and Gibbs truck since they had both been completely paid off, after driving with both Gibbs and Jenny several times they had decided that Kelly could use the car for days when she had to be at school early and it helped to have an extra driver.

"I won't use it, I have no need for a licence in Stillwater so I haven't renewed it in awhile." Jack said, "I'll take a cab if I need to get anywhere."

"I'll come and pick ya up before the game tomorrow." Gibbs offered.

"Thanks son, now as much as I'd like to stay up and visit with you folks this old man needs his rest."

"It is getting late." Jenny agreed looking at her watch, "and it is way past her bedtime." She added, nodding at Ava.

"I'm actually going to head to bed too." Kelly said.

Jenny took Ava from Jack and accepted a kiss on the cheek from Kelly, she waited until the teen had said goodnight to everyone and left the room before saying her own goodnights and excusing herself to put the baby to bed.

N*C*I*S

It took her almost forty minutes to get the baby to sleep, after twenty minutes of rocking quietly to no avail she decided to try something else. She undid the top three buttons of her blouse and held Ava against her chest, she noticed a change in the baby right away. She let Ava run her small hands against her bare skin and ran her hand up and down the baby's back, although the baby was much calmer she still wouldn't sleep so after another ten minutes Jenny began to hum quietly before starting to sing. She was amazed when the baby almost fell asleep almost immediately.

She gently placed the baby in her crib and did up the buttons on her blouse before slipping out of the room and going into her room. Gibbs was already sitting in bed, a book open in his lap and his glasses perched on the edge of his nose.

"Been a long time since I've heard you sing." He stated quietly.

Jenny tensed and watched him nod towards the baby monitor, she had forgotten all about it being on.

"You used to sing all the time." He added.

"Things change." She whispered.

She grabbed her pj's off of the dresser and moved into her bathroom to change, when she reappeared Gibbs was in the same position.

"Still okay if I sleep in here?" He asked.

"Of course." Jenny replied, rolling her eyes, "has Jack gone to bed?"

"Yup, I checked on Dan and Jake and they're both sound asleep."

"That's good." She replied.

She climbed into bed and grabbed her glasses and a file from her bedside table, it was only 2130 and she wasn't quite ready for bed.

N*C*I*S

Gibbs smirked when he saw the file open in Jenny's lap, she had always read files or something work related before bed and had claimed it relaxed her, he had never understood it but anytime she didn't have something work related she would toss and turn for hours before finally falling asleep.

"You've got a nice voice." He stated after a few minutes.

He had always loved listening to her sing, whether it was under her breath while she worked at her desk as a probie or in the shower while they were on assignment. His favourite though was when she would sing with Dwayne and Laurel Pride when they had gone to New Orleans on a case or when she had sang for holiday's as part of a dare with Burley.

He offered her a small smile when she looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, it was rare that he complemented her and he knew it.

"That was rough." She replied quietly, "I haven't sang in close to eight years."

"Why?"

Jenny leaned her head back against the headboard and closed her eyes, after a minute Gibbs was sure she wasn't going to answer him but she sighed and ran her hand through her hair roughly before turning to him.

"I used to sing to Lillian when I was pregnant, it was just too hard after I lost her." She admitted quietly.

Gibbs saw how much it had hurt her to even admit it and he struggled to figure out what to say, he could see how much she was still hurting over the loss of their child and he understood what she was feeling. They were both too similar in the fact that they would never willingly show what they were feeling.

"Why start now?" He finally asked.

"I didn't even think about it." She replied, sounding almost surprised, "but once I started it felt right."

"It seemed to work." Gibbs commented.

"It did." Jenny whispered.

Gibbs watched her slip off her glasses and close the file in front of her before placing it on the bedside table, she reached over and turned off the lamp on her side of the bed and slid under the blankets, rolling on her side facing away from him. He closed his book, took off his glasses and turned off the lamp before laying beside her.

"You can keep reading." She mumbled, "the light doesn't bug me."

"I know, I'm ready for bed anyway." He replied.

He rolled over to face her and hesitated for a minute before resting a hand on her hip, she shifted back so her back was resting against his chest and he wrapped his arm around her waist. It was only a few minutes before both of them were sound asleep.

 **Hey Guys! Sorry for the delay! Writers block is killing me slowly... I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and thank you all so much for your reviews I absolutely love to hear from you! Please remember I own nothing!**

 **~Katie**

 **PS. I would still love to hear suggestions for one shots!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight**

Jenny rolled over in bed and groaned into Gibbs' shoulder as the alarm sounded, she waited while Gibbs repeatedly hit the bedside table until the beeping stopped. His free arm was wrapped around her shoulders and the arm that had been hitting the alarm clock fell back down against her hip.

"It's too early." Jenny muttered.

She had never been one to sleep in but after having two weeks of being able to get up at 0630 getting up at 0500 was almost painful. The only positive thing was that the baby had slept through the night again, meaning that she had been able to actually stay in bed all night. She hadn't slept great though, she had dozed for most of the night, the pain in her shoulder a constant reminder not to move too much.

"I smell coffee." Gibbs mumbled, rubbing his hand over his face roughly.

This time Jenny could smell the coffee too, and bacon and what she thought might be pancakes. She wasn't normally a breakfast person but the idea of pancakes and bacon was making her stomach rumble.

"Did your dad make breakfast?" Jenny asked as she sat up in bed, wincing slightly at the throbbing in her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes when Gibbs rolled over and buried his head in his pillow with a groan, she knew he wasn't looking forward to getting out of bed and facing his dad.

"You're being melodramatic." She stated with a sigh, "I'm going to head downstairs and see if it's your dad or one of the girls up."

She gave his good shoulder a gentle squeeze before rolling out of bed, she grabbed the first sweater she could find and pulled it over her head making a mental note to turn up the thermostat as she did so. She left Gibbs in her room and made her way down to the kitchen where she found Jack standing in front of the stove.

"Good morning." She greeted as cheerfully as she could manage.

"Well good morning to you." Jack replied, grinning at her, "I hope you don't mind I did a little snooping and made some breakfast."

"I don't mind at all." Jenny replied, "and it smells amazing but you really didn't have to do that."

She wasn't sure Gibbs would be so understanding about the 'snooping' but as long as Jack contained it to the kitchen she really didn't care.

"Nonsense, you and my son could probably use a break and it's not that often I get to cook for my grandkids."

Jenny smiled and nodded her understanding as she made her way to the coffeepot, she poured herself a mug full and grabbed the paper off of the counter before sitting down at the island.

"I like being able to say that." Jack stated after a few minutes of silence, "my grandkids, never thought I get to say that I was doing something with my granddaughter again and now I have three granddaughters and a grandson... Guess I owe that to you."

"I can only take credit for one of them." Jenny reminded him, "and you haven't even met her yet."

"I'm sure I'll love her when I meet her, but you can take credit for all of them, I doubt any of them would be here without you."

"Jethro would have found a way." Jenny replied with a small shrug.

The words were barley out of her mouth before the man himself entered the room with Ava in his arms.

"There's my pretty lady." Jenny cooed, "she's going to be grumpy this afternoon if she doesn't take a nap at some point this morning." She added with a sigh.

"I'll make sure she gets a good nap in." Jack promised, "good morning, Son."

"Jack." Gibbs replied with a small nod.

She took a sip of her coffee and absentmindedly rubbed her shoulder as she watched Gibbs pour himself a coffee.

"What's wrong with your shoulder?" He asked, watching Jenny carefully.

"Recoil from my gun jarred it a bit." She replied with a wince.

It had been a long time since she had last fired her gun and even then it had been a single shot, not an hour of almost non-stop shooting. Her wrist wasn't feeling great either but she wasn't about to draw Gibbs' attention to that as well.

"You gonna be okay? Do you want an Advil or something?" He asked.

"I'll be fine, it's just a bit stiff." She replied dismissively, "your dad made breakfast."

"I can see that." Gibbs replied with a raised eyebrow, "you didn't have to do that."

Jenny sighed quietly and stood up to grab Ava from Gibbs, she shot him a warning glare as she did so before placing Ava in her highchair.

"I wanted to." Jack replied, "I figured you and Jenny could use a break."

"And we appreciate it, and we also appreciate you watching Ava today." Jenny replied, giving Gibbs a pointed look, "it's really helping us out."

Gibbs made a sound that could pass as an agreement as he swallowed a mouthful of coffee, Jenny sighed and went back to cutting a pancake into pieces so small they were barely mush, she was starting to give the baby more solid foods but was weary of choking.

She placed a few pieces in front of Ava and let baby pick at them, she made herself a small plate and sat at the island. She barely had the first bite of her pancake in her mouth when Dani wandered into the kitchen, she watched the girl pause and eye Jack wearily.

N*C*I*S

Dani paused in the doorway to the kitchen, her eyes immediately falling on the elderly man standing by the stove. She debating turning around and going back upstairs before his voice stopped her.

"You must be Dani." He stated, "I'm Jackson Gibbs."

Dani looked over to Gibbs who simply nodded in response to her unasked question. She didn't really need him to respond, at a closer glance the two men looked similar enough that there was no way they weren't related. She stepped forward and shook Jack's offered hand, secretly grateful he made no move to hug her.

"You can call me Jack or Grandpa, whatever you're more comfortable with." He offered, "I made some pancakes and bacon if you want."

"Thank you." Dani replied quietly, "it smells good."

She grabbed a plate and filled it with a few pancakes and pieces of bacon before taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"How did you sleep?" Jenny asked.

"Fine, you?" Dani asked.

She was still torn between liking and hating Jenny, the woman seemed nice enough and obviously the other kids loved her but she couldn't get past the fact that Jenny had abandoned her and hadn't bothered to check in until a few weeks ago.

"I slept okay."

Dani looked over at Jenny and raised an eyebrow, she could see how exhausted her mother looked but she didn't comment on it, she was however debating commenting on the insane amount of syrup on Jenny's pancakes.

"What the hell are you doing?" Gibbs asked looking at Jenny's pancakes.

"I need a sugar boost." Jenny replied with a shrug.

"You're going to give yourself diabetes." Dani muttered.

She could see Jenny glaring at her out of the corner of her eye for a split second before she turned the glare on Gibbs.

"Well don't glare at me, I just asked what you were doing." He said, holding up his hands defensively.

"I'm compensating." She replied, the warning clear in her voice, "Dani is your sister up?" She asked, her voice softer.

Dani looked over at Jenny with a raised eyebrow, she had never heard Jenny snap at anyone like she had just snapped at Gibbs.

"I'm assuming you mean Kelly and to my knowledge she's not." Dani replied, "what time is Jake's game at?"

"1530." Jenny replied, "three thirty." She corrected when Dani stared at her blankly, "And then we're going to your uncle's place for supper after."

"Alright."

"I didn't realize you guys had plans after the game." Jack stated.

"We're just having dinner with a friend, his daughter is on the soccer team with Jake." Jenny replied, "I called him last night and he would love it if you would join us."

"I don't want to intrude." Jack argued.

"You won't be." Gibbs replied.

Dani couldn't stop the snort that escaped at the look Gibbs made behind his father's back, she quickly covered it with a cough and looked down at her plate. She barely saw Gibbs hide a grin at her reaction behind his coffee mug.

N*C*I*S

The urge to pull out her own hair was overwhelming. It was only 1230 and Jenny Shepard was already moments away from quitting her job and running for the hills. She had been in a budget meeting all morning, and then she had spent the last hour on the phone with Director David trying to organize a surveillance op. She was just about to slam her phone down in frustration when the door to her office flew open, she glared at Gibbs but was secretly relieved to have a legitimate excuse to hang up on Eli David.

"I'm going to have to call you back Director David." She said, "yes... yes... I will."

She hung up the phone with a frustrated sigh and turned her eyes back to Gibbs who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"If you have something to complain about I suggest you do it elsewhere." She warned, reaching back to rub her shoulder.

"You good?" He asked carefully.

"Yes, Jethro I am fine." She replied tightly.

"You don't sound fine."

She raised her eyebrow but quickly lowered it with a sigh. She wasn't being fair and she knew it, she was tired, sore and frustrated and she knew that there would be no peace anytime soon. She knew Gibbs was trying but things had still been tense while they had gotten ready for work that day and she was sure that it wouldn't be any better that night.

"Did you need something, Special Agent Gibbs?" She asked tiredly, "or were you just hear to disturb the peace?"

"Doesn't seem like there's a whole lotta peace going on in here." Gibbs stated, "Tobias just called, he caught a case and he doesn't think he'll be able to make it in time for the game this afternoon."

"Does that mean Diane will be joining us?" Jenny asked wearily, the perfect way to end the day she thought to herself.

"No, she had to take her mom to a doctors appointment this afternoon, Tobias was wondering if we could take Em after the game."

"That's fine, just call him back and tell him we'll do dinner at our place." Jenny replied, "tell him he can join us if he has a break and that we can keep Em for the night if we have to."

Gibbs nodded and stepped back towards the door, he looked back at Jenny for a minute and paused, his hand still on the doorknob.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm just tired." Jenny replied, "nothing out of the ordinary."

"Alright." Gibbs replied, he knew better than to push her.

"Tell your team they can come for supper if they want." Jenny added as Gibbs was walking out the door, "it would make the kids happy to have them around."

 **Alrighty Guys, this isn't my favourite chapter of all time but I felt bad about not posting so here you go, next chapter will be a dinner with the team and Jack and possibly a surprise guest. I'm hoping to get into more of Dani's relationship with her mother or an argument between Jenny and Gibbs (maybe push them together a bit) let me know what you want to see... I don't own anything except for my spelling and grammatical errors, I love to hear from you guys! A huge shout out to JamJar98 and NerdyJibbsOreo for their awesome new Slibbs stories, go and check those out! And a huge shout out to Isles15 for being my cheerleader!**

 **~Katie**


	9. Chapter 9

**NINE**

Jenny had barely put the car in park before both Jake and Emily were unbuckled and opening the doors.

"Slow down!" She ordered.

"I wanna tell Papa about the my game!" Jake exclaimed.

Jenny rolled her eyes but conceded to the excited child with a sigh, Jack had called at 1430 to tell Jenny that Ava had been miserable all day and that she would probably be more comfortable at home. Jenny had offered to go home and stay with the baby but Jack had insisted that she shouldn't miss Jake's first soccer game.

She watched the kids bolt out of the car before climbing out and following them at a much slower pace. She was barely in the house when she heard Jake chattering excitedly to Jack, she kicked off her shoes and listened as Jake introduced Emily. She was about to make her way into the kitchen when there was a knock on the front door. She turned and peeked through the window, she could see her security agents moving out of their secluded parking spot but they didn't make a move on the elderly couple standing at the door.

"Hello?" Jenny greeted when she opened the door, "may I help you?"

"I'm sorry, we must have the wrong address, we're looking for Leroy Jethro Gibbs." The woman stated, "or Jackson Gibbs."

"You have the right address, can I ask what this is about?"

"We're his in-laws." The man stated.

"Ex in-laws." The woman muttered.

"Jack called you." Jenny guessed with a tight smile.

"He did, we were hoping to speak to him." The woman replied, eyeing Jenny suspiciously, "and you would be?"

"Jenny Shepard, and you?" Jenny replied, offering the woman her hand.

"Joann Fielding." The woman replied coldly.

"Mac." The man replied his voice significantly warmer.

"It's nice to meet you, please come in."

She was going to kill Jack. Gibbs was going to kill Jack and then he was going to bring him back to life only to kill him again. She let the couple in the front door and stepped aside so they could take off their shoes and coats.

"Is someone at the door, Mommy?" Jake asked, bounding around the corner.

Jenny watched the surprised look on the older woman's face and tried to keep a blank mask on her own face.

"Where's your grandfather?" She asked, ignoring Jake's question.

"He's in the kitchen with Em and Ava." Jake replied, looking between Jenny and the couple.

"Why don't you grab Emily and go show her the barn." Jenny suggested, "stay out of the loft though."

"Okay, when's everyone else coming home?" Jake asked.

"They're picking up pizza, they'll be home in twenty minutes, go outside now okay? Make sure you're both wearing your jackets."

"Your son?" Mac asked when Jake was out of earshot.

"Yes, he's seven." Jenny replied.

"May I ask who you are to Jethro?" Mac asked.

If the question had come from the woman Jenny probably wouldn't have answered it but there was something about Mac that she had liked instantly.

"He's my partner." Jenny replied, "and yes Jake is ours." She added before either of them could ask.

"I didn't realized Jethro had had more children." Joann commented.

"We have four including Kelly." Jenny replied, "Jake is our only boy, Dani, my daughter is fourteen and Ava is six months old."

She nodded in the direction of the living room where Jack was standing with the baby, the look on his face was innocent until he saw the unhidden rage on Jenny's face. The rage was gone in a second when Mac turned around but she could tell by the sheepish look on Jack's face that he had seen it.

"It's good to see you Jack." Joann said.

"You as well Joann, Mac, good to see you."

"Hello, Jack." Mac replied with a polite smile.

"Would you both like to come in and sit down?" Jenny offered.

The first thing Joann Fielding noticed when she walked into the living room were all of the pictures, her eyes skimmed over the large group photo over the fire place, she paused on the photo of Jethro and the woman in front of her surrounded by three children, her eyes immediately locking on Kelly. She felt like the wind was knocked out of her when she saw how much the teenager looked like her mother at the same age.

"She looks just like her mother." Mac commented, his eyes on a different photo placed on a bookshelf.

"She's a lot like Shannon." Jack stated, "although she's got her fathers spark."

Joann moved to stand beside her ex-husband and grabbed the photo off the shelf, it was of Jenny and Kelly. It looked like it was taken in bed, Jenny had her back against the headboard and Kelly was leaning against her grinning at the camera. She couldn't say that it didn't hurt to see another woman so comfortable with her granddaughter.

"What is she like?" Joann asked.

"She's a sweet girl." Jenny stated before Jack could speak, "she got Jethro's talent for art and she loves music, she's good at school and she's a great big sister."

"She always wanted a sibling growing up." Mac stated, "Shannon was good in school too."

"She must have gotten it from Shannon because Leroy never excelled there." Jack replied.

Jenny tried not to roll her eyes at Jack's blatant disregard for his sons accomplishments and tried to bite her tongue.

"No but he has a silver star, a purple heart and six Meritorious Civilian Service awards." Jenny stated after a minute, "your son is an accomplished man."

Jenny watched Mac pick up another picture frame and study it for a moment.

"Did you serve Ms. Shepard?" He asked, holding out the photo.

Jenny took the frame and smiled softly at the picture of her and Gibbs in full army fatigues, they had been in Afghanistan investigating a missing agent.

"Not in the military, we were in Afghanistan for work, it was my first trip there."

"Did you go back?" Jack asked in surprise.

"I was one of the first Agents on the ground after 9/11, my specialty is anti-terrorism operations." Jenny replied, she couldn't help the small amount of pride evident in her voice, "And Jethro and I went back once more after that trip."

"What do you do exactly?" Joann asked.

"I work for NCIS" Jenny replied vaguely, "we deal with crimes relating to the Navy and Marine corps and their dependants."

"Our daughter was a dependent, we know what it is." Joann replied, her voice clipped.

"Of course." Jenny replied apologetically.

There was a moment of awkward silence before the front door opened followed by excited voices.

"I'm not saying yes or no, I'm saying ask your mom before you make plans." Gibbs' voice stated.

"I was going to ask Mom, I just wanted to check with you too." Kelly explained, her voice muffled.

Jenny still startled a bit every time Kelly referred to her as mom, she never said it to her face but if she was talking to one of the other kids or occasionally Gibbs she would say mom instead of Jenny. She watched Dani come around the corner and paused as she noticed the two strangers standing in the living room.

"Um, we didn't end up picking up the pizza, they weren't ready so Tony and Ziva are going to pick them up on their way over." She stated.

"I don't think Mom's really going to care if I go spend the day with Grandma Victoria" Kelly's voice carried through, "I thought Dani might like to come too."

"Try not to subject your sister to Victoria too soon." Gibbs warned, following his daughter into the living room.

"Grandma is harmless." Kelly replied, "she's just eccentric, like every other person in this family." She added pointedly, "you're just upset because she tried to hit on you last time we went to visit her."

"She told Abby that she and Ducky needed to get working on having kids." Gibbs pointed out.

"And while that is disturbing she's stopped pestering for grandkids since Ducky you guys brought us to visit." Kelly reminded him, "she's just a sweet, lonely old woman."

She watched Gibbs' face go from relaxed and open to cold and stoney as he noticed Joann and Mac standing in front of the fireplace. She took a step forward and gently placed her hand on his forearm, a small warning not to say whatever he was going to say.

"Kelly-." She started.

"You're so grown up." Joann whispered, stepping towards Kelly.

"Kelly you remember your mother's parents don't you?" Jack asked with a large smile on his face.

Jenny watched Kelly's face cloud in confusion for a split second before it changed to an apologetic smile.

"I don't remember much from before the accident." She stated slowly.

Jenny could feel the anxiety rolling off of Kelly, she was hiding it well if you didn't know her but Jenny could see the way her hands were pulling at the hem of her sweater and the way she was biting her bottom lip every few seconds.

"Dani, can you go check on Emily and Jake please?" Jenny asked quietly.

Dani nodded silently and slipped out of the room, Jenny didn't miss the way she gently squeezed Kelly's hand on her way out.

"Well I would imagine a lot has changed since we last saw you, and that this is pretty overwhelming for you so it's nice to meet you Kelly, I'm your Grandpa Mac."

Jenny felt an overwhelming wave of gratitude for the man in front of her, the way he held out his hand for Kelly to take without asking for anything more from her.

"It's nice to meet you." Kelly replied with a genuine smile, "I'm sorry this was just all very sudden."

"Of course it was." Joann agreed gently, "we're very sorry for springing this on you, we just really wanted to see you."

"It's really nice to meet both of you." Kelly said again.

"Why don't you show them around." Jenny suggested gently, "we still have about twenty minutes before supper."

"We don't have to stay." Mac stated quickly, "we could always meet for coffee or something another day, give you a chance to process everything."

"No, no please stay, I want you guys to stay." Kelly replied, "although fair warning we're having a family dinner tonight and they tend to get a little crazy, there are a lot of us."

"We can handle the crazy." Mac replied with a grin.

Jenny could see more hesitation on Joann's face but she didn't disagree out loud, she simply nodded.

"So this is the living room." Kelly stated, "the kitchen and dining room are through there but I'll show you upstairs first."

Jenny waited until the three of them were out of earshot before turning to Jack, who looked sheepish but Jenny could tell he wasn't quite sure why Jenny and Gibbs looked ready to kill him.

"I warned you not to give me a reason to keep you away from my kids." Gibbs stated darkly, "you're getting close to giving me a reason."

"What Jethro means-"

"What I mean is that if you ever put any of the kids in the position you just put Kelly in again I won't even think before I throw you out on your ass." Gibbs warned.

"I didn't put Kelly in any position."

Jenny had been angry but calm until that point, she felt her entire body stiffen in anger at the way he disregarded Kelly's feelings.

"You put her in a horrible position, you made her feel trapped in her own home and cornered by people she doesn't know." Jenny stated angrily, "I have kept it together until now but my patience is running out."

She knew Jack wasn't a bad person, he was just oblivious to how the things he said and did affected those around him.

"I just wanted her to know her family, what's so wrong with that?" Jack asked, "why do I get to know her but Joann and Mac don't?"

"I don't disagree with you, Jack, but there is a way to do things and ambushing all of us isn't the way to do that, not to mention I have two other kids who are going to be asking questions that I don't have answers to. You willingly accepted my kids but how do I know what kind of people they are? How do I know that they're going to accept our family for what it is? Tell me, Jack, how do I know that my seven year old son isn't going to feel horrible if these two strangers reject him simply because they aren't his biological grandparents?" Jenny asked, her voice sharp, "what about if they ask about how we came to have Jake and Ava, or better yet Dani? What if they decide we're not fit parents and try to take custody of Kelly?"

She knew that their work hours were already a concern with CPS, she also knew if her past came to light in court there was a good chance no only Kelly but all of the kids would be taken away.

"I didn't think about that." Jack stated quietly.

"Obviously you didn't think at all." Jenny stated, "I get what you were trying to do but Jack you need to think these things through."

Jenny shut her mouth abruptly when she heard Kelly's voice coming down the stairs and the backdoor open followed by Jake and Emily chatting excitedly.

"We'll finish this later." She whispered before turning to Gibbs, "go outside and cool off."

She watched Gibbs turn to leave before stopping, he turned back around and carefully took Ava out of Jack's arms and left the room. Kelly gave her a questioning look when Gibbs walked past her silently but Jenny only shook her head.

"Mom are Abby and Timmy coming for supper too?" Jake asked, oblivious to the tension in the room, "Emily and I have a science project that we might need help on."

"I can help you." Kelly offered.

"Yeah..." Jake trailed off slowly, "but Abby makes science really fun."

Jenny snorted at the slightly offended look on Kelly's face and the large grin on Emily's.

"You should know never to compete with Abby when it comes to science, Baby." Jenny reminded her.

"Just to be clear I'm still your favourite older sister, right?" Kelly asked looking pleadingly at Jake.

"Nope." Jake replied, "Ziva is."

"That's harsh." Jenny said with a laugh, "Kelly why don't you finish showing them around, Jake and Emily you guys go and get washed up it's almost time for supper."

"Where's Dad?" Jake asked, looking around the room.

"He's upstairs, leave him be for now please." Jenny replied, "where's Dani, she was supposed to get you."

"She's looking at something in the barn, she said she would be in in a minute." Emily answered.

"Okay, go get cleaned up." Jenny instructed, "and then you can help Kelly set the table."

"We're setting the table for pizza?" Kelly asked skeptically after the kids had left.

"Yes we are." Jenny replied, raising her eyebrow before sighing and rolling her eyes, "it's Tony and McGee's turn to do dishes if that's what you're worried about."

"Let's use different plates for salad and pizza." Kelly stated with a grin, "And everyone use utensils for their pizza."

"What did Tony do this time?" Jenny asked tiredly.

Tony and Kelly were the stereotypical example of a brother and sister, while they loved each other and got along well they were always bickering and trying to one up each other. Jenny and Gibbs both found it entertaining and as long as it never got too serious and they didn't come to either of them to complain they let them argue

"He went into my sock drawer and stole all of my left socks and then hid all of my right boots." Kelly replied, rolling her eyes, "I had to wear flats to school today because I couldn't find my boots and my feet almost froze because I didn't have matching socks."

"That is a very odd thing to do." Jenny commented, "I don't doubt that he did it but it's odd, even for him, he normally won't go in your room."

"He had Jake help him." Kelly replied, "he's mad because I switched all of his DVD's into different cases and Jake is always willing to help out the other boys."

"Well as long as your brother is learning team work." Jenny stated with a shrug.

"That's helpful." Kelly deadpanned.

"You know I don't get involved with this stuff." Jenny replied, holding up her hands defensively, "you want to fight with the boys you handle it yourself."

"And if he tries to use superglue again?" Kelly asked.

"Don't bait me Kelly-Ann." Jenny replied with a laugh, "I'm not taking sides, go finish showing your grandparents around and then set the table."

She watched Kelly toss her a grin and a wink over her shoulder as she lead Mac and Joann into the dining room with Jack tailing behind her. The minute they were out of sight Jenny let her shoulder slump and sighed deeply, she was exhausted and the night was nowhere near over.

 **So this was originally going to be one really long chapter except it spiralled out of control so now it's two chapters. Jenny and Gibbs are pissed at Jack, Mac and Joann are there and Joann's not entirely thrilled about Jenny being in her granddaughters life... The next half will be up soon (probably not today) and I hope you guys all enjoyed, I love to hear from you... I do realize that I made a mistake in updating Pushing the Limits on Thanksgiving, so in case you guys were busy and missed the notification there's a new chapter up there! Remember I own nothing!**

 **~Katie**


	10. Chapter 10

**TEN**

Kelly Gibbs lead the way upstairs, followed closely by Mac and Joann, her grandparents she corrected mentally. She didn't know how to proceed or what to say to these people who she didn't remember but who clearly remembered her.

"So this is Jake's room, the guest room, Ava's room and Dani's room." She said, pointing into each room as they walked, "and this is my room."

She stepped into her room and let Joann and Mac look around, she watched Joann wander over to the easel set up in the corner and then over to her desk and the wall where a few of her sketches were hanging.

"If I had known anyone was coming I would have cleaned up a bit." She commented with a small grimace.

The room wasn't dirty on any level but rather a bit disorganized with her music and art supplies, her bed was made and nothing was on the floor but there were papers and pencils spread out over her desk and her textbooks and notes spread out across her window-seat.

"Do you play?" Mac asked, nodding at the violin and guitar cases leaning against the wall.

"I do." Kelly replied with a nod.

"Maybe we could hear you play sometime." Joann suggested.

"After dinner if we have some time I could play, I don't like to play alone but I might be able to convince Tony or Ziva would play with me." Kelly agreed.

"Who are Tony and Ziva?" Mac asked.

"Members of my dad's team, we're all really close." Kelly replied, she grabbed a picture off of her desk and handed it to Mac, "that's Tim, Tony, Ziva and Abby."

The picture Mac was holding was an old one Abby had given to her but it was one of her favourites of the team, it was taken in Abby's lab after a day in court, everyone was still in their suits but in various states of undress. Abby was laying upside-down on the couch in her office, her hair dangling on the floor with only her pencil skirt and a tank top on, Tony was wearing his dress pants and had his button up half undone and was straddling a chair backwards, McGee was in his dress pants and a white t-shirt and laying down with his head on Abby's stomach and Ziva was wearing her skirt and blouse but no shoes and leaning against the wall. All of them had huge smiles on their faces and looked completely relaxed.

"Who is this?" Joann asked, holding up a picture frame from Kelly's bookshelf.

Kelly looked at the frame and smiled, the photo was of Gibbs and Abby cuddled up and sound asleep on the couch, Abby had a copy of the picture in her apartment and had offered to make her a copy when she had said it was cute.

"That's Abby, she the forensic scientist at NCIS." Kelly replied, "she'll be here tonight."

"It seems like you've settled in here really well." Mac commented, "Jack said you've been back with your dad for about a month."

"He and Jenny make it really easy." Kelly replied, "and the rest of the family too."

"It seems like you're really happy." Mac stated.

"I am, I love having brothers and sisters and there are a lot of them around here and Emily and Uncle Toby are always in and out." Kelly responded happily, "it's nice to have some stability."

She heard Joann make a quite noise and turned to see her looking at a double picture frame on her beside table, on the left was a picture of Kelly and Shannon when Kelly was only a few years old and the other was of Jenny and Kelly, they were squished together in an armchair and both had big grins on their faces.

"Dad says I look a lot like her, like my mom that is." Kelly said, "My Uncle Dwayne says I have my dad's personality though, Tony says I have Jenny's fire." She added with a small laugh.

"Oh your mom had a good temper when she needed to." Mac stated with a grin.

"I've been told that." Kelly replied with a smirk, "why don't we head back down?" She suggested, "the circus is about to start."

N*C*I*S

The circus was indeed just beginning, Kelly was showing Joann and Mac the kitchen when she heard the front door open and slam shut. She could hear voices and excited shouting from Jake and Emily, the voices got closer until Ducky, Abby, Jake and Emily were in the kitchen.

"Jack!" Abby exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the older man before turning to Kelly. "Hey Kel, where's your mom?" Abby asked, "I need to make sure it's okay for Timmy to bring over Jetty."

"She was in the living room last time I checked but I'm sure she won't care if you want to bring him." Kelly replied.

"Okay, perfect, he's missing Grandma and Grandpa." Abby replied pulling out her phone, "Hi! I'm Abby!" She greeted excitedly when she noticed Joann and Mac.

"Abby these are my other grandparents, Joann and Mac Fielding."

"You're Shannon's parents." Abby stated, "it's nice to meet you."

Kelly watched the three exchange greetings, she could see the way her grandmother was eyeing Abby's short skirt and tattoos disdainfully and was grateful that Abby seemed to be ignoring it.

"And this is Doctor Donald Mallard." Kelly added, "he's the Medical Examiner at NCIS."

"It is lovely to meet you both, please call me Ducky." The elderly doctor greeted.

Kelly could see that both Joann and Mac were instantly more taken with Ducky than they had been with Abby, a fact that Kelly didn't quite like but could understand.

"And how are you today, my dear?" Ducky asked after everyone had been introduced, "how was school?"

"Good and good." Kelly replied with a grin, "and Jake's soccer game was great." She added, giving Jake a proud smile.

"I am sure it was excellent, I am sorry I missed it but I assume you took a video." Ducky responded.

"Of course, however you'll need to watch it without volume because Jenny is screaming so loudly in the background."

"Ah yes, she does have a healthy set of lungs that girl." Ducky replied with a chuckle, "I cannot believe that your father is not deaf at this point."

"I think Gibbs has learned to tune it out." Abby stated, "just like he tunes out Tony, Ziva and Tim."

"Dad has gotten very good at tuning out the chaos." Kelly agreed.

"Well with the lot of you running around it seems it would be a necessity." Ducky commented, "you are quite the boisterous group."

"And Mommy and Daddy love every minute of it." Abby replied firmly, "now I would love to see the video of your game you two."

Kelly smirked and watched Abby lead Jake and Emily out of the kitchen, leaving Kelly alone with the adults.

"So my dear, how has your latest music project been going? Your mother- Jenny, was telling me about it this afternoon and it sounds fascinating."

"The composition piece is driving me insane but Ziva is trying to give me a hand and Laurel is going to Skype with me tomorrow." Kelly replied.

"It is lovely that they are willing to help." Ducky replied.

N*C*I*S

Jenny waited a few minutes before going upstairs to look for Gibbs, she heard the front door slam shut just as she reached the top of the stairs but she didn't bother turning around, she knew Gibbs' team would make themselves comfortable. She went to the nursery looking for Gibbs but found it empty, she found him laying on his side on her bed, Ava laying on her back in front of him.

"Your shoes are on the bed." She stated softly.

She wasn't upset, she just needed something to say that wasn't 'are you okay', Gibbs didn't even look over at her before he kicked off his shoes.

"I had no idea that they were going to be here." She said.

She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, she didn't think Gibbs would raise his voice but she didn't want anyone overhearing their conversation.

"I know." Gibbs replied with a sigh, he ran his hand roughly over his face before letting it rest gently on Ava's stomach, "they have a right to see her."

"But a warning would have been good." Jenny finished for him, "Jack had no right to do what he did."

"No but he'll never understand that." Gibbs stated, "if it was just Kelly it would be a different story, we have other kids, this affects them too."

"I don't disagree but Kelly deserves to know her family and Joann and Mac deserve to know her." Jenny argued gently.

"And what about you? This affects you too, Jen."

"I don't matter here, Kelly does."

"You do matter Jen, do you really want to deal with this? Do you really want two strangers questioning how you raise our child?"

"They're not strangers, they are family for better or worse and they aren't questioning how we raise _our_ child if they question anything it would be how we raise _their_ granddaughter. _Their_ granddaughter who is the only piece of _their daughter_ they have left" Jenny replied.

 **Well I had this written but I forgot to publish it…. Sorry guys… Hope you enjoy, and please remember I own nothing but love to hear from you!**

 **Merry Christmas,**

 **~Katie**


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven**

Jenny shut the door behind Abby and McGee and leaned against it with a relieved sigh, dinner had been a chaotic and slightly tense affair that she was happy to see finally come to an end. Jack had wisely kept his mouth shut around Jenny and Gibbs but had chatted away happily with the rest of the team and Joann, Mac and the kids. She could tell that Joann hadn't been fond of the chaos but Mac had embraced it wholeheartedly, Joann had also been cold towards Abby and she hadn't exactly been warm with the kids. She had never been outright mean but she hadn't been warm and loving either.

It had made Jenny's blood boil but she had kept it together for Kelly's sake and for the sake of the other kids. Jake hadn't really noticed that anything was off and had shied away from Joann and Mac for the most part, too excited to spend time with Emily and Jethro the dog anyway. Dani had picked up on it a little bit more but had remained silent most of the meal, the team had handled the awkwardness well and had made it a bit easier on everyone else.

Despite the support that the team had given she was grateful that everyone was gone, Ava and Jake were both in bed and Dani had disappeared upstairs ten minutes earlier. Kelly was in the kitchen having a cup of tea with Jack and Gibbs had gone upstairs to put Ava to bed and had never returned. She debated between going upstairs and going to the kitchen before finally deciding on the kitchen, she would give Gibbs the space he obviously needed.

She wandered into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea before sitting at the table with Jack and Kelly.

"Is it alright if I join you?" She asked.

"Yup." Kelly replied with a wide smile, "is everyone gone now?"

"Yes." Jenny replied with a contented sigh, "do you have any homework tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm going to head up as soon as I finish this." Kelly replied, taking the last sip of her tea.

Jenny watched Kelly bring her cup to the sink and rinse it out before turning back to them, she gave both Jenny and Jack as kiss on the cheek before saying goodnight, thanking Jenny for letting Joann and Mac stay for the tenth time that night.

"You're welcome." Jenny replied, squeezing Kelly's hand, "now go and get your homework done and try to get to bed at a decent time."

She went back to siping her tea in silence once Kelly had left the room. Jack was studying her but she stubbornly refused to look at him. She could hear Kelly moving around in her room above them and she focused on that rather than on Jack. She heard him sigh and push back his chair, she still didn't look at him as he emptied his cup and tidied everything up.

"I think I'll go to bed." He stated, "for what it's worth, I really am sorry." He added when she didn't respond.

"It's not me you need to apologize too." Jenny replied with a sigh, "I'm not happy about it but you didn't even think about how much that would hurt your son."

"I made a mistake." Jack said quietly, "parents make mistakes, you'll learn that."

Jenny turned to face him with a glare, he had taken it too far with that comment and she was about to lose her temper.

"I am well aware parents make mistakes _Mr. Gibbs,_ I watched my own parents screw up countless times and I am in no way a perfect mother, I've been screwing up as a mother since _before_ my children were born." She said firmly, "I am not perfect and I understand that parents make mistakes but what you did was blatantly disrespectful to both your son and myself."

"I don't think that's fair." Jack argued.

"I learned very early on that life isn't fair, Jack." Jenny retorted, "now I'm going to go to bed because I am exhausted, I strongly suggest you don't bring any of this up with your son until he's had time to get some sleep."

Jack nodded solemnly and sighed, Jenny could tell he was accepting defeat at least for the time being and was grateful for it.

"Goodnight, Jenny." He said, pausing in the doorway.

"Goodnight, Jack." She replied, her voice slightly softer.

A part of her did feel bad for Jack, he was trying to do something nice for Joann and Mac but she also felt terrible for Gibbs. She finished tidying up the kitchen and made sure the kids' lunches were all packed and ready to go. She made her way upstairs and paused outside of Dani's door for a minute, she could see light streaming from under the door so she reached out and knocked quietly.

"Come in."

She opened the door and stepped into the room, she had barely stepped foot in Dani's room since the teen had moved in but nothing had really changed. The bed wasn't made as neatly as Jenny would have done it but it was done and the rest of the room was tidy.

"I just wanted to check in, tonight was a little crazy." She said.

"I'm fine." Dani replied, "just trying to get this homework done."

Jenny pursed her lips but nodded, she had always known things with Dani wouldn't be easy. She had just hoped for sentences with a few more words.

"Alright… Well I'll let you get back to it, goodnight."

"Night." Dani replied.

Jenny couldn't help the wide smile on her face when Dani turned around and offered her a small smile as she said goodnight, she mentally chastised herself, she probably looked creepy with a huge grin on her face. She left Dani's room and made her way down the hall, she made sure both Ava and Jake were sound asleep and poked her head in to say goodnight to Kelly before finally going into her room. Gibbs was sitting on the bed, a book open in his lap but his eyes were fixated on the wall and his hands were clenched in his lap.

"Missing your boat?" She asked gently.

He grunted an answer and rubbed his hand roughly over his face, she could tell that he was exhausted and irritated, not her favourite combination on him but nothing she hadn't handled before.

"Everyone is in bed." She informed him.

She grabbed her PJ's off of her dresser and wandered into the bathroom, she didn't bother shutting the door all the way as she quickly changed and began her nightly routine.

"Want me to go downstairs?" Gibbs asked.

At some point he had left the bed and was now leaning against the doorframe watching her wash her face. She gave him a pointed look but didn't respond to, what was in her mind, a completely unnecessary question. She finished washing her face and quickly brushed her teeth before heading back into the bedroom, brushing past him on her way through.

"My dad in bed?"

"Yes… I may have told him off a bit." She admitted guiltily.

"Good." Gibbs replied with a shrug, "someone needed too."

She tidied up a few things around her room before pulling the blankets back on her side of the bed, she rearranged her pillows and crawled under the covers before sighing in frustration.

"What's wrong?" Gibbs asked, climbing into bed beside her.

She couldn't even pinpoint what her problem was at that moment, she was just frustrated with the situation, over tired and feeling tightly wound.

"I don't even know." She replied with an exhausted sigh.

She rolled onto her back and ran her both of her hands through her hair, no doubt making a mess of it.

"I'm just frustrated with everything." She added quietly, "it's like everything is tense and I just can't relax."

Gibbs rolled onto his side and ran his hand back and forth over her stomach, careful to keep it in an appropriate place and not let it stray.

"Anything I can do?" He asked.

Jenny opened one eye and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not entirely sure what you're offering Special Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs smirked but let his hand still on her stomach, he hadn't been making a move of any sort but it was good to hear her sense of humour was still in tact.

"Not that." He said with a small chuckle, "Although…." He added jokingly, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

He felt her tense under him for a split second until she realized he was joking and burst out laughing. She placed his hand on top of hers and gripped it as she chuckled, it was nice to hear him joking, it didn't happen often enough in her opinion and it was always a nice change of pace. She doubled over when his hand brushed a ticklish spot on her hip.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and did it again, she curled onto her side and tucked her knees to her chest, laughing as she did so. She could hear Gibbs laughing through the sound of her own laughter as she struggled to get away from him.

"Okay!" She gasped, "I'm calling uncle!"

Gibbs laughed and rested his head on her shoulder, his nose in the crook of her neck. He had rolled over and was leaning half over her, he lowered himself and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Didn't know you were ticklish." He stated breathlessly, lifting his head from her shoulder.

"I didn't know you could laugh like that." She retorted smartly.

In the ten years she had known him she had never heard him laugh that hard, it still amazed and terrified her how much she didn't know about the man she lived with, the father of her children. Their relationship had always been fire and ice, almost volatile with its passion and for a long time it had simply been about the sex and releasing tension. She had realized at some point that she had fallen for him but the love she had felt for him then was nothing compared to what she had felt in the past few weeks. She was seeing a whole new side of him, seeing him with his team, with their kids she was realizing how much she loved seeing him not just as her best friend and partner but as a father. Their relationship had evolved into something completely new to her and as much as it terrified her she found herself oddly hopeful. Their relationship had gone from volatile and unpredictable to oddly peaceful in its domesticity.

She looked over at him and smiled softly at the peaceful smile on his face, he was laying on his side with his head propped on his hand and his free arm wrapped around his waist.

"What?" He asked quietly.

"What do you mean, what?"

"You've got a look on your face."

Jenny felt herself blush, and looked down afraid she had given her thoughts away. She looked up in surprise when he brushed his hand across her cheek.

"Jen…"

She looked up and him and bit her bottom lip, she couldn't even begin to put into words what she was feeling. The look on his face was more vulnerable and open than she had ever seen it and that made her want to try to tell him what she was feeling rather than shutting it down.

"I just…"

She didn't know how to finish the sentence so she leaned up and brushed her lips across his cheek.

"Thank you." She whispered in his ear.

Gibbs pulled back and studied her, he had no idea what had come over her but the look on her face was one he had never seen before. He reached out and gently brushed his thumb across his cheek, he didn't know what she was thanking him for but he understood that it was important to her. He felt something shift in the air between them, all of a sudden something was different, he couldn't place what it was but something had changed.

She felt it too.

 **Well guys I got back on a roll here so I decided to update this first instead of The Night Before Christmas tonight simply because this was done and I was super duper happy with it for once… I**

 **am in the process of actually putting together the video described in TNBC (to the best of my ability because most of the lines said and pictures mentioned were headcanon and not actually featured on the show) if that is something you guys are interested in seeing… Also I have created an IG account, same name as here and my Tumblr if anyone is into that kind of thing, I'll be posting updates regarding stories and stuff there so maybe check it out! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I love to hear from you guys just please remember I don't own anything!**

 **~Katie**


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelve**

 ** _WARNING: Implied mentions of abuse (or something along those lines…)_**

Jenny was woken out of a deep sleep by Gibbs' tossing and turning beside her, she sat up and gently rested a hand on his shoulder. She did it without thinking, and instantly regretted it as Gibbs shot up in bed and gripped her wrist tightly. She gasped and fought against every instinct to pull away from him, she knew struggling would only make it worse if he wasn't completely awake yet.

"Jethro." She said through gritted teeth, "Jethro, you're safe."

His grip on her wrist tightened momentarily as his eyes darted around the room in panic, they paused when they landed on her but quickly went back to scanning the room.

"Jethro, you're safe, please let me go."

His face fell as he dropped her wrist as if he had been burned and quickly pushed himself away from her.

"I'm going to turn on the lamp, okay?"

She reached over and turned on the lamp, trying to ignore the insistent throbbing in her wrist. She had no doubt in her mind that there would be a mark, she only hopped that it wouldn't be too noticeable. She wasn't prepared for how lost Gibbs looked as he stared at her.

"Hey…" She whispered, reaching out to brush her fingers over his cheek, "everything's fine, just take a deep breath."

She waited until he sucked in a deep breath, it took him a few minutes to get his breathing back to normal and she placed her good hand on his thigh until it even out.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

She wasn't surprised when he shook his head in the negative. She moved her hand to his upper arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. She knew he wouldn't talk until he was ready and she doubted he would ever be ready to talk about his nightmares. She understood that, she didn't talk about her nightmares either, those were her demons and hers alone.

"Do you want to stay up for a bit? Or do you want to be alone?" She asked gently, "I can go downstairs for a bit if you want to be alone."

He shook his head. "No, you need to sleep."

"So do you." She retorted, "but I'm not sleeping if you're not."

"Just need a minute, gonna go get a drink."

Jenny nodded and watched him slide out of the bed, she was grateful for the moment alone. She waited until he was gone before she slipped out of bed and into the bathroom, she turned on the light and pulled the sleeve of her top back. She looked at the ceiling as she did it, trying to put off the inevitable. She took a deep breath and looked down at her wrist, biting her lip at the angry red hand print on her arm, she had no doubt that it would turn an impressive shade of black and blue by morning. She turned the tap on and ran her wrist under the cold water, it wouldn't do much for the colour or swelling but it was helping with the pain.

She used her free hand to open the medicine cabinet above the sink and struggled to open a bottle of Tylenol. She took two of the pills and swallowed them dry, she let the water run over her wrist until she heard the door to the bedroom open again and quickly shut off the tap. She dried her arm off and pulled her sleeve down securely, she never wanted Gibbs to see what he had done. He would never forgive himself.

Back in the bedroom she found Gibbs sitting up in the bed, his head back and resting against the headboard.

"I didn't hear you come back up the stairs." She stated as she climbed back into bed.

"Never went down." He admitted with a small sigh, "checked on the kids then went to your office."

' _Where the bourbon is.'_ Jenny thought to herself. Gibbs had cleaned most of the hard alcohol out of the house after she had admitted to not drinking, it had been his way of supporting her but she had asked him to leave one bottle of bourbon and a bottle of scotch in her office, just in case she had a meeting and someone wanted a drink.

"Sorry." He muttered.

"What are you sorry for?" She asked, "it's me who's not drinking, I've never expected you to stop."

"Was trying to cut back."

"And you have." She replied, "but you do what you have to to cope, you don't complain when I need to smoke and I don't care if you drink, as long as it's not to the excess."

"Thanks."

Jenny gave him a small smile and nodded, she reached over for the lamp looking to him for permission before she shut it off. She laid down and turned her back to him, giving him privacy if he wanted it. She had started to drift off by the time he finally laid down and wrapped his arm around her waist. She placed a hand over his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

N*C*I*S

Jenny groaned as she gently massaged her wrist, the Tylenol had done it's job long enough for her to get a decent nights sleep but had worn off by the time she had arrived at work. She had taken two more an hour into her morning but it wasn't working as well as it should have. She had been correct to assume that it would be a bad bruise, by the time she had woken up the hand print on her arm had turned an impressive shade of black and blue and had swollen to twice the size of her other wrist.

She had hidden it well with a long sleeved blouse covered by a loose blazer but no amount of clothing could mask the throbbing pain. Her right wrist was still sore from the shooting range but had nothing on the pain in her left one. She tried to work for another half an hour before finally giving up, she didn't want to involve anyone else but she was starting to worry that maybe the damage was worse than a bad bruise. She pushed her chair back and checked to make sure her wrist wasn't visible before making her way down to autopsy.

She hesitated in the doorway as the doors swished open.

"Ah, Jennifer! What brings you down to my humble abode today?" Ducky exclaimed, closing one of the drawers before walking over to her.

"I was wondering if you would take a look at something for me?" She asked, nodding her head in Jimmy's direction.

"Why of course." Ducky replied, "Mr. Palmer why don't you take a long lunch." He suggested.

"Thank you, Doctor!" Jimmy exclaimed, bolting for the door before the older man could change his mind, "always nice to see you, Director!"

"You too." Jenny replied with a kind smile.

She waited until Jimmy left the room before taking a seat by Ducky's desk.

"And what would you like me to look at my dear? A file or perhaps something else?"

Jenny sighed and folded her hands in her lap, "I need you to promise confidentiality."

"Of course," Ducky replied seriously.

"I need you to take a look at my wrist."

"Did you over do it on the range the other day? You really must be more careful my dear." Ducky chastised gently.

"No… Well yes, but it's the other wrist I need you to look at." She admitted softly.

She carefully undid the buttons on the wrist of her blouse and pulled it up, wincing as she did so.

"Oh good lord." Ducky whispered, "what on earth did you do my dear?"

She watched Ducky's face darken as he saw the shape of the bruise, understanding passing over his face as he gently turned her wrist.

"Jennifer, please tell me this is not what I think it is."

"It was an accident." She whispered.

"Jennifer, this was not an accident, an accident is hitting it off of the dresser or slipping and falling… This… This is abuse."

"No!" She protested quickly, "he had a nightmare and I reached out for him, I shouldn't have done it, it was my fault but he didn't do it on purpose."

"Do I want to ask why you were in bed together?"

"His dad is in town, and we both sleep better when we're together." She admitted, pursing her lips, as she looked past Ducky and at the wall instead

"Does he know?" Ducky asked quietly as he prodded at her wrist.

Jenny gasped and shook her head in the negative as she fought against the tears threatening to fall, the pain was horrible but the guilt and frustration she was feeling did nothing but add to an already bad situation.

"I'd like to do an x-ray but I do not believe it is broken or fractured, it just looks like a very bad and quite painful bruise." Ducky stated, "I cannot do much for the pain but I do recommend icing it off and on for the next forty eight hours, after that switch to a warm compress. It won't help much with the pain but it will aid in reducing the colour, since you are obviously not going to tell your partner about this."

"How long will it take to fade completely?" Jenny asked.

"About two weeks, maybe less, maybe more, it simply depends on how you take care of it my dear." Ducky replied, "I would not recommend doing any heavy lifting, putting pressure on it or any repetitive movements. Although I don't necessarily agree with the decision if you do not wish for Jethro to know about it I wouldn't advise putting make up or anything over it yet, it is much to sensitive I would simply stick to long sleeved shirts."

"So no sex then?" She asked with a weak grin, "I'm kidding, we're not sleeping together in that way, Ducky."

Ducky shook his head at her antics, as upset as he was over the situation and the obvious pain she was in he couldn't help but be glad that her sense of humour, although subdued, was still intact. He was just wrapping up his initial examination when the doors to autopsy swished open, he looked up to see Stan Burley standing there with a look of first shock and then outrage on his face as he saw the bruise on Jenny's wrist.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked angrily, "what did that bastard do?"

"It was an accident." Jenny stated quickly, "calm down Stan, it was just an accident."

"What? Did you fall down the stairs?" He snarled.

Ducky saw Jenny recoil at the thinly veiled accusation and immediately leapt to her defence.

"Stanley! That is enough."

"What do you mean that's enough?" Stan exclaimed vehemently, "she's sitting there, black and blue, calling it an accident! We've all seen it before! Oh I fell down the stairs, oh, he didn't mean to, he said he'd never do it again! God damn it, Jenny you know better than that!"

"Special Agent Burley that is enough!" Ducky yelled, "you are making matters much worse."

"I'm going to kill him." Stan stated, turning on his heel.

 **Third update of the day! I'm on a roll guys…. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a bit darker but again like always I promise there is a reason! I'd like to again thank everyone for their support with The Night Before Christmas and again remind you to drop a line for one shot prompts! Please remember that I don't own anything but I love to hear from all of you!**

 **~Katie**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteen**

Ducky barely had time to let go of Jenny's wrist before she was up and out of the chair, pulling her sleeve down as she went. He quickly got up and followed her out of autopsy, he saw her bang her good hand on the closed elevator door in frustration before turning to the stairs.

"Jennifer please, don't do something you're going to regret." He pleaded.

"He was serious Ducky." Jenny replied, "if someone doesn't stop him he might actually kill Gibbs this time."

Ducky didn't have time to stop her before she was in the stairwell making a mad dash up the five flights of stairs to the bullpen.

N*C*I*S

By the time she made it to the top of the stairwell it was only pure adrenaline that was stopping her from doubling over, she pushed through the doorway and sprinted towards the squad-room, her heels barely slowing her down. She made it just in time to watch Stan grab Gibbs's shoulder and yank him around before landing a solid blow to his face.

She was a second too late to stop the first blow but by the time Stan wound up to hit him again she was standing between the two men, her arms outstretched.

"Enough." She said firmly, "are you insane? He has a head injury!"

"Get out of the way." Stan ordered, shoving her to the side.

She stepped back in front of him and did her best to push Gibbs away as he stepped forward to fight back.

"You sit down, now!" She demanded, pushing Gibbs, "Special Agent Burley I said that is enough!"

Stan stepped forward as if to make another move and Jenny stepped closer to him.

"If you make one more move I will drop you on your ass so fast you won't know what hit you." She threatened, her voice low.

Stan took another step and Jenny used all of her training from both NCIS and Mossad and had him pinned to the desk, his hand twisted painfully behind his back in a second.

"I said that is enough!" She ordered firmly, pressing her free elbow between his shoulder blades, "I'm going to let you go, you're going to turn around and go down to autopsy and cool down, make a single move towards Special Agent Gibbs and Ziva _will_ shoot you."

The Mossad officer was standing to the side with her gun hanging loosely from her hand.

"Better yet, the three of you, my office now."

Jenny turned and groaned when she saw Leon standing on the stair landing, SecNav beside him watching the scene unfold with a raised eyebrow and a disappointed frown on his face.

"Shit." Jenny muttered, carefully backing off of Stan.

She followed the men up the stairs, carefully avoiding the eyes of the agents watching them in the squad-room. The adrenaline had kept the pain in her wrist out of her mind but now that it was wearing off the throbbing had returned and was worse than ever. She waited until the door to Leon's office was closed before falling into a chair with a sigh.

"Would anyone like to explain what the hell happened down there?" Leon asked, crossing his arms as he studied the group in front of him.

"Hell if I know." Gibbs stated throwing up his hands.

"The hell if you know?" Stan asked, "Jesus, how arrogant can you be? Jenny's black and blue but hey, hell if you know."

"Stan!" Jenny exclaimed, "Shut. Up."

"Why? Because you don't want anyone to know what a bastard he is?" Stan asked.

"What do you mean Jen's black and blue?" Gibbs asked, looking between Jenny and Stan.

"Oh like you don't know?" Stan said scathingly, "I go down into autopsy and Ducky is examining her, and she looks like someone was manhandling her."

"What Stan, you've never heard of rough sex?" Jenny asked.

It was a last ditch effort to pull the attention away from Gibbs and judging by the way Leon and SecNav turned to her in shock it seemed to have worked at least a bit.

"No, rough sex is rug burns on your knees and elbows, marks on your wrists from cuffs, maybe a few minor scratches or bruises, not _that_!" Stan exclaimed, gesturing at her covered wrist. "You like it rough but not like that Jenny!"

"I'm going to pretend you did not just say that in front of not only both of your bosses but my boss as well."

"Pretend all you want, Jesus Jenny, I'm starting to wondering if pretending is all you're good at. I mean come on, you saw his second marriage fall apart, you know what he's like when he's in a relationship! Hell, your marriage or whatever fell apart and yet you keep. Going. Back!"

"My marriage is not nor has it ever been any of your god damn concern, Stan." Jenny replied sharply, "you've been miserable since you've been back, what the hell is your problem?"

"Enough!" Gibbs barked, "One of you had better tell me what's going on, now."

"Look at Jenny's wrist." Stan ordered, "if you really don't know what's going on."

Gibbs reached out for Jenny's hand but she quickly pulled it away from him.

"I'm fine." She stated quickly before turning to SecNav. "Sir I'm really sorry but this has all been a big misunderstanding that escalated way too much."

SecNav sighed and shook his head. "I don't even know what to do with you three anymore, it is a good thing that you are three of our best agents otherwise I would have fired all of you ten years ago…. I can't keep making excuses for you, the next time we have an outburst of a personal matter in the workplace you're all suspended. This time I'm going to cut you all some slack, it has been a hard month for everyone, Special Agent Burley you'd better get it together because you're stuck here until Gibbs is able to go back into the field. Now, because I really don't want another fight you're all going home and you'd better have your acts together tomorrow or I swear I will not be this nice next time."

"Thank you, Sir." Jenny said, standing up slowly, "It won't happen again, I promise."

She looked over at Stan pointedly and had to fight not to hit him when he rolled his eyes at her.

"Not so fast." SecNav said holding up his hand, "Special Agent Burley you may go, you two sit back down." He said gesturing between Jenny and Gibbs.

Jenny sat back down and carefully folded her hands in her lap, she could feel Gibbs watching her and made a point to look straight at SecNav and not him.

"Do I need to worry about you two?" SecNav asked once Stan was gone.

"No, Sir." Jenny replied quickly, "Like I said it was a misunderstanding."

"I have known both of you for a long time, you were one of NCIS' best teams and I have only heard the highest praises from Tom Morrow about both of you, but I need to know if your personal relationship is affecting your professional relationship."

"Our personal relationship stays out of the office." Gibbs stated.

"Good, keep it that way. As your boss I need to know that you're not letting personal affect professional but on a more personal note I've known both of you a long time, do me a favour and make sure professional isn't affecting your personal lives either. Relationships are hard enough, adding kids is even harder and with a job like this it's near impossible but you two seem to be doing alright, try and keep it that way, you're a good team."

"Thank you, Sir." Jenny replied, "We're doing our best."

"And that's all anyone can do, now both of you go home." He ordered gently.

Gibbs and Jenny both nodded their thanks before standing and letting themselves out of the office. Jenny made a beeline for her office, she made it into the office but he was right behind her, he shut the door before he grabbed on to her upper arm and gently pulled her sleeve up. She closed her eyes as he rotated her wrist, when she opened her eyes he could see the pain on his face.

"I did that." He stated quietly.

"No." Jenny replied quickly.

"If I didn't who did then, Jen?" He whispered harshly.

"Can we not do this here?" She asked, her eyes darting around to check for eavesdroppers.

"We don't have anywhere else to go." Gibbs reminded her, "Stan is at my place and Jack is at home."

"I don't want to have this conversation in my office Jethro, it wasn't you're fault."

"What conversation, Jen? There is no conversation, just look at your wrist! How is that not my fault?"

The look on his face was so broken, she reached out to touch him but he stepped back and threw up his hands.

"You were sound asleep, you were having a nightmare and I reached out to you. I should have known better, Jethro, you reacted on instinct you didn't intentionally hurt me."

"But I hurt you!"

She tried not to flinch at the sound of his voice, it was rare he yelled but it always startled her when he did.

"Damn it, Jen…" He said, his voice barely above a whisper, "I hurt you, I could've broken your wrist, it could've been a lot worse."

"But you didn't and it wasn't." She stated firmly, "it's a bit of a bruise it'll be gone in a week or two."

She was downplaying it and she knew it but she had never seen him look so broken before, she had seen a similar look when he had first spoken to her about Shannon and Kelly, about not being able to save them. This was an even deeper self-loathing an even deeper sadness than she had seen then, she knew it was because he had been the one to directly harm her, he had been the one to lay a hand on her.

"What if it had been one of the kids?" Gibbs asked, "What if it had been one of the girls or Jake?"

"It wasn't."

"It could be next time!" Gibbs exclaimed.

Jenny reached under the conference table and hit the button for the SCIF, she really didn't want any prying ears to overhear them fighting.

"There can't be a next time." He added, his voice more subdued.

"So what are you planning on doing?" Jenny asked incredulously, "are you just never going to sleep again?"

"I'll move back onto the couch." He stated.

"No."

"What do you mean, _no?"_

 _"_ You heard me Jethro, you're not sleeping on the couch, you're going to sleep in _our_ bed in _our_ room." She replied, her own voice rising, "you're not giving up this easy."

"I'm not giving up anything, Jen! There's nothing to give up! We'll just go back to the way things were."

"Fine." She whispered, "you're right, there's nothing to give up."

She grabbed her jacket and bag off of her desk and made her way towards the door pausing only when he spoke.

"Where are you going?"

"Well there's nothing to give up so I guess there's no point in finishing this obviously pointless conversation." She replied without turning around, "I'll be home by the time the kids come home from school."

 **It's getting tense up in here Y'all… Thank you guys for your reviews and please remember that the only thing I own are my mistakes :(…**

 **~Katie**


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteen**

Jenny shut the door to her brownstone slowly, she hated how much pain she was in, both emotionally and physically. She hated that Gibbs could still make her feel like a heartbroken teenager, she was a strong, independent woman damn it, she was the first female director of an Armed Federal Agency! She was the first female director of an Armed Federal Agency and she was sitting on the floor of her foyer with tears running down her face because of a man. She hated him and she hated herself.

All she wanted was a handful of Advil and a bottle of bourbon, too bad the house was completely empty. She lifted her head from where it was resting on her knees and looked around, she had grown up in that house, it had belonged to her Grandmother and then her father and then her. She had loved that house for as long as she could remember. Until she had found her fathers body in his study then it had become a tomb she had subjected herself to because she couldn't bear to part with the memories, good and bad. She was over that. She had clung to the memories because she had nothing else, she had lost her daughters and her partner, she had one of her daughters back and three more kids and she had thought she'd had her partner back.

She knew that's why it hurt so bad, she had really thought their relationship had meant as much to him as it had to her. Apparently not. She heard a car door slam outside and she quickly wiped her eyes, there was only one person who would be coming to the house in the middle of the day. She barely had time to stand up and wipe her eyes one more time before Gibbs was letting himself into the house.

"That key is for emergencies only." She stated coldly.

She watched him close the door and waited for him to turn to face her, she could see some remorse on his face but she couldn't tell if he actually knew why she was upset.

"Figured this was close enough to an emergency." He replied with a small shrug, "didn't know where you were going."

"Well you obviously figured it out." She pointed out dryly, "now that you've figured it out you can let yourself out."

"We need to talk, Jen." He sighed, "we can't leave it like this."

"There's nothing to leave, Jethro." She replied, "just go home, give your dad a break with the baby."

"Please, Jen."

That made her pause, he rarely said please and when he did it was important to him.

"Fine, talk." She replied, turning to face him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I shouldn't've yelled." He stated.

It wasn't an apology and it wasn't even what she was upset about but she nodded anyway, she raised her eyebrow and waited to see if he continued.

"Why didn't you correct Stan?"

Her head jerked back in confusion at the question, she wasn't even sure what he was talking about.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"When he said our marriage fell apart, you didn't correct him you told him that your marriage wasn't any of his business." Gibbs stated.

"I should have said relationship, or something else." She replied, "I'll correct him next time I see him."

"No… That's not what I meant."

"Do you even know what you meant, Jethro?"

"You didn't agree with him, you didn't say that our marriage fell apart." Gibbs said slowly, "you just told him that it was none of his business."

"Because it didn't fall apart, Jethro." She replied quietly, "I did what I had to do for our daughter but it didn't fall apart. It wasn't the best but it didn't fall apart, it wasn't as great as what we've had the last few weeks but it was good, Jethro."

"What we _had_?" He asked, shifting his feet.

"Yeah." She replied with a shrug, "our ' _marriage'_ if that's what we're going to call it wasn't a bad marriage, we weren't as open and honest as we have been with each other for the last few weeks and having kids has added a whole new level to it but it wasn't bad then either."

"Some things were better then." He stated, his eyes darting to her wrist.

"It was an accident, Jethro."

She knew and understood why he felt bad, but she was hurt and angry that he was willing to say that there was nothing for him to give up on.

"Maybe, I'm still gonna sleep on the couch from now on." He replied, "it's better for you that way."

That made her bristle, he had no right to tell her what was good or not for her.

"How is that better for me?" She asked, her voice taking on an edge, "How do you know what's _better_ for me?"

"Safer." He corrected, "it's safer for you."

"I am a grown woman, I am the Director of an Armed Federal Agency and I have four children who I've managed to take care of, shockingly enough I think I can decide what is better or safer for me." She replied harshly.

She could feel the anger from earlier returning at an alarming speed as her voice rose, she could feel her face flush and she knew her eyes were flashing with barely concealed rage as she finished the sentence.

"You have no right to make those decisions for me!" She added.

"I'm your partner, Jen, I have every right." He replied, not quite yelling but he was getting close.

"No, as my partner you _help_ me make decisions! You do not make them for me! You don't get to decide what's right for me!" She snapped.

"I can't hurt you again, Jen!" He shouted, "not again." His voice was barely a whisper that time.

"And you think _this,"_ she said, gesturing between them, "hurts me any less than my this?" She asked, holding up her wrist. "Do you think hearing that I'm nothing makes me feel good? Do you think I enjoy fighting with you? This is killing me, Jethro, I thought we were finally in a good spot! I thought we were finally in a place where we could maybe happy together but every time we get close something happens to-"

She wasn't expecting the kiss. She wasn't expecting him to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her against him gently, she looked up at him in surprise but barely had time to react before his lips were on hers. She didn't respond for a second and he started to pull back but she quickly swallowed her surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back again.

It had been eight years since she had kissed him, and two years since she had kissed anyone else but she recognized the spark she felt as she let her body melt into his chest. It would have been perfect had it not been for the throbbing in her wrist and the anger still in her body. The kiss came to a natural end and she pulled back slowly, she leaned forward and gave him another peck before resting her forehead on his shoulder.

"This doesn't fix it." She whispered, "this doesn't just make everything magically better."

That had been a mistake they had made repeatedly when they had first gotten together, they had always ended every argument with sex and had never actually solved any of their issues. They had never discussed their problems and in the end it had caused even more issues between them.

"We can't do things the way we used to." She added quietly, "we need to actually figure things out, there are too many people counting on us now, we can't screw that up."

"I know." He breathed against her neck, "that mean you don't want to try?"

She pulled back a bit and rested her hands on the sides of his neck. She wanted to try, as much has she had fought it in the beginning she wanted to try, she wanted to know if they could make it work together, if they could make it work for their family.

"I want to try, but do you?"

"Yeah." He replied, resting his forehead against hers, "and Jen… You're not… You're not nothing…"

"I know I'm not but Jethro, I get told that all the time." She whispered, "by the men I work with who think I slept my way to the top, the looks I get from directors of other agencies who don't like that I'm young and a woman, and even by my mother… I don't need to hear it from my partner too, I don't need you to tell me your proud of me or that I mean something to you but I don't need to hear that I don't mean anything."

She could tell by the look on his face that he was having an internal debate on how to proceed, he could either respond and tell her how he was feeling or he could deflect and avoid the topic completely. She was willing to bet it would be the latter.

"You mean something," He stated slowly, "You've gotta know that, Jen. You don't just mean _something_ , to the kids, to me… You're everything, you make us a family, we couldn't do this without you and I _am_ proud of you, how far you've come."

She swallowed around the lump in her throat, she hadn't been expecting the words, she knew he didn't do feelings well and that made it mean even more to her that he was willing to say what he had out loud.

"Thank you." She whispered, "are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yeah, wanna give us a shot, a real shot this time." He replied quietly, "I'm not good at this, you know that but I'm gonna try."

"You're already doing pretty good." She reassured him with a small smile, "but if we're doing this we're going to have some rules, we can't let _us_ affect work or the kids."

"I know." He stated, "but can we talk about rules later? It's been a long morning."

"It has." She agreed, "I just want to go home and hold our daughter and maybe take a nap,"

"Whatever you want." He replied, kissing her forehead.

 **Well it only took us like two hundred pages to get to this point but they're finally together Y'all! I really debated dragging this out a bit longer (I love the suspense) but I figured I owed you guys this much after sticking with me for so long! Thank you all again for your reviews and support! I own nothing :(…**

 **~Katie**


	15. Chapter 15

**Fifteen**

Jenny laid Ava in her crib and stepped back, she heard the door to the nursery open and quietly click shut. She knew by the light scent of sawdust that it was Gibbs and it was confirmed when his strong arms wrapped around her waist and gently pulled her back against his chest.

"Did she go down easy?" He whispered against her hair.

"Yes, but if you wake her up I'll hurt you." She warned quietly.

She felt Gibbs smile against the top of her head and rested her hands over his, she tilted her head back until she could see him and lightly kissed him. The angle was bad and it was no more than a peck but she enjoyed it none-the-less.

He smirked. "That really takes away from the threat."

She shook her head with a grin before leaning it back against her shoulder, her eyes fell to the sleeping baby and she felt her heart swell at the sight of her. She let out a contented sigh and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. She hadn't realized she could ever love something so much until she'd held Dani for the first time, but she was learning everyday that that love only grew the longer she knew her children, she may not have given birth to Ava, Jake or Kelly but she loved them just as much as the children she had given birth to.

"You good?"

"I just can't believe how much I love her." She replied, "all of them."

"Scary sometimes." He admitted.

"Yeah, it is." She agreed, "I could watch her all day." She added, her voice barely a whisper.

"Me too… But we should let her sleep, and you said you wanted a nap." He reminded her.

"What about your dad?" She asked.

She stepped out of his arms and quickly ran her hand over the baby's chest to make sure that she was still alright.

"He said he was gonna lay down." Gibbs replied, "there's no reason you can't take a nap."

"Alright, alright." She conceded.

She followed him out of the nursery and into the hallway, she stepped towards her room and paused when he didn't move.

"Do you want to lay down with me?" She asked.

She saw his eyes flick to her wrist and stepped forward to place a hand on his arm.

"Stop thinking about it." She ordered quietly, "It was an accident and it won't happen again, I'll be more careful from now on."

"It's not your fault."

"No it's not, but it isn't your fault either, Jethro." She stated, "you were asleep and it was an accident, neither one of us could have controlled it so stop beating yourself up about it."

She saw him hesitating so she reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him behind her until they were in the bedroom. She shut the door behind her and pulled the curtains closed before pulling the covers on the bed back. She had changed into yoga pants and a comfortable long-sleeved shirt when they had gotten home and was ready for bed.

She climbed into bed and pulled the blankets up around her, she watched as Gibbs hesitated for a moment before climbing on to his side of the bed. He laid stiffly on his back beside her, she rolled her eyes and rolled over onto her side and wrapped her arm around his waist, careful not to jostle her wrist.

"Relax." She whispered, running her hand across his chest.

He sighed and she felt him relax a bit so she continued to run her hand up and down his chest lightly. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder, she enjoyed being able to be so close to him, she shifted slightly when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders before burrowing back into his side.

Gibbs forced himself to relax under her gentle caresses, he wouldn't allow himself to fall asleep but he knew she wouldn't rest as long as he was tense beside her. He reached up and stilled her hand after a few minutes, while he was enjoying the gentle movement it had been a long time since he'd had a woman touch him in anyway and an even longer time since it had been Jenny and he was getting a little _too_ relaxed. He intertwined their fingers and listened as her breathing evened out.

He still couldn't believe the turn his life had taken. He had once considered himself a patently unlucky man, he now considered himself one of the luckiest men alive. There were still days when he missed the people he had lost. Even on those days he couldn't help but smile as he thought of the people he still had, as he thought of each of his children, the ones who he saw everyday at work and the ones who still lived at home, he couldn't help but smile as he thought about the woman beside him who was now snoring softly against his shoulder. He closed his eyes and listened to her snores, he wouldn't let himself fall asleep completely but he dozed lightly for close to an hour before he heard noises coming through the baby monitor.

He gently untangled Jenny's hand from his and slipped out of the bed, smirking at her disgruntled moan as she pulled his pillow against her chest. He made sure she was covered by the blanket before he slipped out of the room and across the hall into the nursery. He found Ava laying in her crib fussing quietly, he scooped her up and held her against his chest, rocking side to side in an attempt to calm her before the fussing turned to outright crying. Once she was quiet he quickly changed her wet diaper and carried her downstairs, he had learned from past experience that once she was up from a nap there was no getting her back to sleep. He wandered into the den and settled on the couch with her, he grabbed her cloth book off of the coffee table and handed it to her. He let her play for a few minutes before laying her down on her mat to let her stretch out for a bit, once he was settled her turned to the clean but as of yet unfolded basket of laundry on the coffee table.

He knew the constant flow of laundry tended to get on Jenny's nerves and was bound and determined to help her out wherever he could, as soon as she and Jack were both awake he would also vacuum but for the moment he contented himself with folding laundry and then tidying the main floor while Ava played. He had just barely finished tidying the living room when he heard the front door open and shut followed by the sound of three voices. He poked his head out into the foyer and placed a finger over his lips and nodded towards the stairs.

"Your Mom and Grandpa are sleeping." He warned in a whisper.

He motioned for them to join him in the living room, he ruffled Jake's hair, gave Kelly a kiss on the cheek and gave Dani's shoulder a squeeze as they passed by him.

"What are you guys doing home?" Kelly asked quietly.

"Really?" Dani asked, looking towards the older teen incredulously, " _that's_ the question you're going to ask, not what's going on with all of that?" She asked, gesturing towards his face.

"Run in with a suspect today." Gibbs replied dismissively.

He hadn't looked in a mirror but he had no doubt his face was at best an interesting shade of red but more likely and impressive black and blue by that point in time. He was just relieved his eye hadn't swelled at all. He also had to fight back a smirk at Dani's attitude, sometimes she was the spitting image of her mother.

"And we only did a half day today, we're easing back into it." He lied.

He could see the suspicion on Kelly's face but she kept her mouth shut in front of her siblings, the mild warning glare he shot her way keeping her in line.

"How was school?" He asked, picking up Ava before ushering everyone into the kitchen.

"It was good." Jack replied happily, "I don't have any homework tonight!"

"That's good, what're you gonna do with your free time?" Gibbs asked, watching his son open and close the fridge, clearly searching for something.

"Mom said I had to clean my room, then I'm gonna go outside." Jack replied, opening a cupboard door.

"What are you looking for?" Gibbs asked, handing Ava over to Kelly who happily accepted the baby.

"A snack, apple slices and peanut butter please." Jake replied, grabbing the jar of peanut butter and handing it to Gibbs.

"Do you girls want any?" He asked, grabbing three apples out of the fridge when both girls nodded, "I was thinking pasta for supper tonight, is that okay with everyone?"

All three of them nodded distractedly, Jake was watching Gibbs slice the apples, Kelly was making faces at Ava and Dani was on her phone scrolling through something. Gibbs placed apple slices and scoop of peanut butter on three separate plates, all three said thank you before Dani and Jake excused themselves to go upstairs leaving Gibbs and Kelly alone in the kitchen.

"So what really happened?" She asked, shifting Ava and nodding towards his face.

"I told you." Gibbs replied, "run in with a suspect, nothing for you to worry about."

"Alright." Kelly conceded with a small shrug, "Are you and Grandpa still fighting?"

"You ask a lot of questions." Gibbs stated.

He wasn't upset with the questions, he just hated that his sixteen year old daughter could read him better than most trained profilers could.

"My parents are cops, don't know what to tell you." She replied smartly, "I spend my days surrounded by federal agents, you pick up on a few things… So are you?"

"We're not fighting."

"But you're not happy with him." Kelly stated, "Because of Joann and Mac."

"I'm not thrilled with how he handled it but it's nothing you need to worry about." He replied firmly, "leave the worrying to your mother and I."

"Easier said than done, I've been doing the worrying for a lot of years." She reminded him gently, "especially if it's going to affect Jake and Ava."

"It won't." Gibbs promised, "we'll work it out."

"Okay." Kelly replied with a small nod, "just don't wait too long Dad… You already lost Grandma, take it from someone who lost her parents for a long time, things that you thought were important mean a whole lot less when someone is gone and if you're lucky enough to get them back you don't even think about the small stuff anymore."

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, he loved her so much and hated how much she had been through in her relatively short life. He also knew that he was right, the stupid fights he'd had with his mother growing up had meant nothing once she had been gone and as angry as he was with Jack he didn't want to let it impact the lives of his children. He didn't want to have regrets.

"I love you." He whispered against her hair.

 **I rise from the dead as my Jibbs muse finally reappears after a month of nothing… I can't promise another update soon but I will do my best! This one is more fluff than anything… I needed a break after the angstfest of the last four chapters so here we are… We'll deal with Jack in the next chapter and probably with Dani too, now that Jenny and Gibbs sort of have it together it's time for something else to fall apart LOL… I promise eventually I will let them live peacefully… Maybe… Please remember that I own nothing :( but I love to hear from you guys!**

 **~Katie**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sixteen**

Gibbs kept one eye out the window to the backyard as he began to cook supper, both girls were in their respective rooms doing their homework and Jake was outside kicking around a ball. He knew at least one agent from Jenny's security detail had an eye on him but he felt better knowing what he was up to. Jenny was still asleep and he wasn't planning to bother her for at least another half an hour. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs and through the living room and looked over at the entrance to the kitchen as his father appeared.

"Son." Jack greeted, giving him a small nod.

They had talked for a few minutes when he and Jenny had returned home from work but it hadn't lasted long and it had only been to explain why they were home from work.

"Jack." He replied, looking back to the cutting board in front of him.

"What're you making?" Jack asked, studying the array of pots and pans on the stove.

"Spaghetti sauce." He replied.

It was Fornell's recipe and he knew it was one of Jenny's favourites.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"No." Gibbs replied before pausing, "you can butter the garlic bread." He offered.

He knew he had valid reason to be upset with his father but he also knew that he needed to make more of an effort, for Jenny's sake and for the sake of the kids.

Jack nodded and made his way over to the counter, he sat on one of the barstools at the island and pulled the bread and garlic butter over to him.

"About last night, Son."

"We don't have to do this." Gibbs stated with a sigh.

"Yes we do." Jack replied, "I wasn't thinking, I just wanted Joann and Mac to know their grandkids I didn't think about how it would affect everyone else."

"No." Gibbs agreed, "you didn't."

"I should've."

"Yeah." Gibbs agreed again, "look… I get what you were tryin' to do but you have to let Jen and I make the decisions about what we do with our kids and how we do it."

After sleeping on it he really did understand what Jack was trying to do, a part of him was even grateful that he had been the one to reach out to Joann and Mac so that he didn't have to but the other part of him, the bigger part, was still pissed about the entire thing.

"Jenny was pretty upset." Jack stated, "she barely said a word to me today."

"It's been a long couple of weeks." Gibbs replied.

He wasn't going to absolve Jack of his guilt but he also didn't want his father to think Jenny's mood had everything to do with him.

"A teething baby, a full time job, three kids, moving and selling her house, she's a superhero." Jack stated.

"Yeah, she is." Gibbs replied, a hint of pride in his voice. "Just give'r some time, she'll come back around."

"And if she doesn't?" Jack asked.

"She will." Gibbs promised, "you just gotta back off a bit, Jack."

"I'm not trying to take over, just wanna be here for my grandkids. Wanna help you guys out, I know how hard it is having one kid, I can't imagine what it's like having four."

"We appreciate the help but we've got a system that works for us." Gibbs reminded him, "Look, I get that you wanna see the kids and that's fine, come and visit but from now on call and when you do come you be the grandparent and we'll be the parents."

"Alright." Jack conceded, "thanks for not kicking me out."

"I told you, don't give me a reason and we'll be fine." He replied, not quite willing to say 'you're welcome.'

They worked in silence for a few minutes, the only sound the occasional coo or giggle from Ava who was playing in her bouncy chair, a cloth book in one hand and a teething toy in the other.

"Where's Jenny?" Jack asked, glancing up at the clock.

"Napping." He replied, "I'm gonna go up and check on her, can you keep an eye on them?" He asked, nodding to Ava and then out to where Jake was still playing.

"You betchya."

Gibbs made his way upstairs and quietly opened the door to Jenny's bedroom, she was still curled around his pillow, her hair had worked loose of the bun it had been in and was spilled around her shoulders. He smiled softly at the sight and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him he quietly made his way over to the bed and sat on the edge. He reached out and lightly ran a hand over her back before tracing it up and down her arm until she began to stir.

"Hey there." He whispered when her eyelids fluttered open.

"Hey." She muttered, turning her face into the pillow, "what time is it?"

"Just about 1700." He replied, pushing her hair back off her face.

"Shit." She exclaimed pushing herself up.

"Hey, relax, I've got everything under control." He replied, smirking as she dropped back onto the bed, "girls are doing their homework, Jake is outside and Ava is watching Jack work on supper."

"Why's Jack making supper." Jenny questioned tiredly.

"He was helping me out." Gibbs replied, "We had a chat."

He tensed in surprise when her hand landed on his thigh but he quickly relaxed as she started to absentmindedly move her thumb back and forth.

"Good chat or bad chat?" She asked, her voice still groggy.

"Good, told him that we appreciate the help but that he needs to let us make decisions."

"Thank you." She whispered in relief.

She knew it was a talk that they needed to have with Jack but she was grateful that Gibbs had done it without her having to ask him to or worse that she would have had to do it alone.

"Welcome." He replied, "how'd you sleep?"

"A little too good apparently." She smirked, "I'm going to go wash my face, I'll be down in a few minutes, okay?"

He nodded and leaned down to drop a kiss on her forehead before standing up and letting himself out of the bedroom.

N*C*I*S

Dinner started out as a relatively calm affair, with Jake monopolizing the conversation as he told everyone about his day. Jenny listened intently as she took bites of her pasta in between feeding Ava bites of her baby food.

"I have a genealogy project, I'm probably going to need some help with it." Dani stated when there was finally a lull in Jake's chatter.

"What's genea-geaneaolgy?" Jake asked, struggling with the big word.

"Like a family tree." Kelly explained, "remember the one I helped you with last year?"

"Oh yeah!" Jake exclaimed, "those are so cool."

"I just need helps with names." Dani said, looking over at Jenny.

"Well there's Mommy and Daddy, you, me, Kelly, Ava, Lilly and of course Grandpa and Papa." Jake replied as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

Jenny stopped her forkful of spaghetti midway to her mouth at the mention of Lillian, out of the corner of her eye she could see Gibbs had the same reaction and Kelly was watching Jack and Dani carefully.

"Lily?" Jack asked, looking at his grandson.

"Yeah, our baby sister." Jack explained, "Mommy and Daddy had her before they brought us home but she was too small so she went to Heaven with Aunty Shannon and Mommy's Daddy."

Jenny looked up at the ceiling closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Dani's chair scrapped across the floor.

"You have got to be freaking kidding me." She muttered, tossing her napkin on the table.

She pursed her lips and cringed as she heard footsteps going up the stairs followed by Dani's bedroom door slamming.

"Son?" Jack asked, his voice hurt.

Jenny ran her hands over her face and pushed her own chair back.

"I need a drink." She muttered making a beeline to the kitchen.

She either needed a drink or she was going to throw up, she wasn't sure which yet. She hadn't found the right time to tell Dani about Lilly, she knew it would upset and hurt Dani to know about it and had used that as an excuse not to have the difficult conversation. Obviously that had been a mistake.

In the dining room Gibbs ran his hand over his face and debated following Jenny, he felt a light tap against his shin and looked over to Kelly who nodded her head towards Jake. Gibbs felt his heart fall when he saw the big tears swimming in his son's eyes, they hadn't spilled over yet but they were getting close.

"Hey, what's wrong buddy?" He asked gently.

"I made Dani and Mommy mad." Jack whispered, a tear spilling down his cheek.

"No." Gibbs replied, gently but firmly as he used his thumb to wipe away the tear. "You didn't do anything wrong, Mom is just sad today, you know how sometimes you just feel sad?"

"Yeah…" Jake replied his voice wavering, "but Mommy was okay until I talked about Lilly."

"Sometimes Mommy gets sad when she thinks about Lilly because she misses her." Gibbs explained, "you didn't do anything wrong, 'kay?"

"Okay." Jake agreed quietly.

"Finish your supper." He instructed gently.

He looked up when Jenny reappeared in the room, she paused for a moment and nodded towards the ceiling to let him know what she was doing and he nodded in reply. He wanted to offer to go with her but he knew that the conversation needed to be between Jenny and her daughter, he had no place there.

N*C*I*S

Jenny leaned her forehead against the wall and tried to stomach up some sort of strength, she wasn't one to pray but in that moment she was willing to try anything. She desperately wanted to turn away from Dani's room go down the hallway and lock herself in her office and drink an entire bottle of bourbon but she knew it wasn't an option. She had known this conversation was coming but despite everything she had faced in her life this scared her more than anything, having a gun held to her head had nothing on the fourteen year old on the other side of the closed door.

She took a deep breath and tapped on the door.

"Go away."

"Dani." She begged quietly, "We need to talk, baby."

She stepped back in surprise when the door was ripped open.

"Don't you dare _baby_ me." She hissed, "you haven't earned that, you don't deserve that."

She bit her lip and raised her eyes with a nod, Dani wasn't wrong she had every right to be mad and Jenny knew that.

"You're right." She replied, "you're right, I haven't earned it."

"You _abandoned_ me." Dani stated, her voice breaking, "you abandoned me and then you went ahead and started a family and you _never_ bothered to look for me, you _never_ bothered to make sure I was okay."

Jenny couldn't stop the quiver in her lip as she watched the tears streaming down her daughters face, her wide green eyes flashing with anger and drowning in sorrow at the same time.

"Just answer me one thing." Dani demanded, "Were you going to keep her?"

Jenny closed her eyes and nodded.

"Get the hell out." Dani whispered, stepping back into her room.

 **And we're back with the angst… Yeah I know I'm awful but please know I was crying just as hard writing this as I know Isla will be reading it (I know you too well at this point LOL)… I know Dani looks bad in the end of this chapter but just put yourself in her shoes and imagine how hurt and confused you would be… (I really had to put myself in her shoes because I kind of hated her after her questioning Jenny and I created her, so I get it!) I'm going to try to update again soon! I own nothing but love to hear from you guys!**

 **~Katie**


	17. Chapter 17

**Seventeen**

Experience and sheer force of habit made her stop Dani from closing the door, the look of anger that flashed over Dani's face made her regret it instantly.

"I understand that you're angry." Jenny replied, "you have every right to be angry but please, let me explain."

"I don't want to hear your excuses." Dani stated, glaring at her mother.

"I don't have any excuses." Jenny replied with a small shrug, "What I did was unforgivable and there is no excuse but I do have my reasons."

"Reasons and excuses are the same thing."

"No, an excuse absolves me of my guilt, I did a horrible thing but I did it for a reason, so please just let me explain." She knew she sounded desperate but at that point she didn't care, "Please, Dani, just let me explain."

She heard Dani take a shuddering breath and breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the door slightly so Jenny could step in. She shut the door behind her and watched Dani sit down on the edge of her bed, her arms crossed over her bed.

"Talk." She ordered.

Jenny felt like she was sixteen again, she felt like she had just gotten caught sneaking in from a date by her father.

"What do you want to know?" She asked quietly.

She didn't even know where to start so she decided she would let Dani steer the conversation in whatever direction she wanted.

"Why?" Dani asked, her voice breaking again, "why did you abandon me?"

Jenny took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, she had been dreading the question and the conversation but she knew it needed to happen.

"When I found out I was pregnant with you I was in a really bad place, my dad had died about six months earlier and I spiralled." Jenny admitted quietly, "I had just graduated college and I got into some bad things… That's how I met your father."

"Does he even know I exist?" Dani asked.

Jenny sighed, "he knew I was pregnant with you but he wasn't a good guy, Dani."

"He wanted you to get an abortion." Dani surmised.

"Yeah…"

"Why didn't you?" Dani asked, shifting on the bed.

"I didn't believe in it." She replied with a small shrug, "I'm as pro-choice as they come and _my_ choice was not to believe in abortion, I was twenty-three at the time, I had a degree, I was a well educated adult and I made a decision. _You_ had nothing to do with the original decision, you didn't ask for it and I wasn't going to make you suffer for it."

"That backfired." Dani stated with a snort.

"Yeah." Jenny agreed with a mirthless chuckle, "and that's on me, that is one hundred percent on me and I am so sorry, Dani."

Dani tightened her arms across her chest and looked down at her lap.

"Does he know you had me?"

"No." Jenny replied, "I left while he was out one day."

"He wouldn't have approved." She guessed.

"No, he wouldn't have like I said he wasn't a good guy and I think I knew that from the beginning but I was in a place where I just didn't care." She admitted slowly, "my father was my world and when he died I just lost the will to care, and I met your father. I made a decision and all of a sudden I had to care again, I knew that I couldn't stay with him if I didn't get an abortion, he was… Aggressive and he didn't like not getting his way, I knew he was looking for me after I left and I was terrified that if he found out I had had you he wouldn't take it well."

"You were afraid he would hurt me."

"I was." Jenny agreed, "and then I had another choice to make, I could keep you and risk him finding out, or I could give you to a family who could take care of you and give you a life better than I ever could." Her voice wavered and she had to take a breath before continuing, "it was the hardest thing I ever had to do, the hardest decision I've ever had to make but I thought I was doing what was best, it's not an excuse but I did have a reason."

"But you never checked on me." Dani argued, "you didn't want me to get hurt and yet you never bothered to make sure I was safe!"

"You're right." Jenny agreed quietly, "I failed you in the worst way possible and there is no excuse or reason for that."

"That's it?" Dani asked, "I'm right?"

"You are right, and I am so sorry for that, Dani." Jenny whispered, "if I could go back and change everything I would, in a heartbeat."

"That doesn't fix it." Dani stated, her voice wavering, "it doesn't fix the fact that you never checked, that you had another family and didn't even consider me."

"I know it doesn't."

"Was she planned?" Dani asked, crossing her arms tighter across her chest.

Jenny opened her mouth and closed it before opening it again, "No."

"Do you understand what birth control is?" Dani asked scathingly.

"Yes." Jenny replied, fighting against the urge to roll her eyes, "I had been shot three weeks before and I was on medication that messed up my birth control."

"But Gibbs was a good guy so you stayed and decided to keep her."

"No." Jenny replied, "Gibbs was and is, a great guy but we were both in a bad place when I found out I was pregnant, he was still mourning Kelly and her mother and I still wasn't over losing my father and you and I made a judgement call." She admitted, "He didn't even know about Lilian until about three weeks ago, the same time he found out about you."

"So you lied to him?"

"Yes. I did what I thought I had to for our child and he understands that, he didn't necessarily like it when he found out but he understood." Jenny replied.

"Why now? Why bother telling him about her and me after all this time?"

Jenny pursed her lips and swallowed, she needed a second to find the right way to answer that.

"I didn't." She admitted with a sigh, "someone who wanted to hurt me told him about both of you, and even though it wasn't my idea it was the best thing that could have happened."

"Would you have told him?" Dani asked, "If you hadn't been forced to."

"I think eventually I would have." Jenny replied, "but I can't say for certain Dani, I don't know because I didn't get the chance to make that decision."

"Did Gibbs make you check on me?"

"No." She replied honestly, "he found your file and gave it to me, when you were born they promised that they would find you a good home and I believed them, so when I read your file and saw that you were in foster care, in a group home, it broke my heart."

"Who made the call to take me?"

"I did." She stated, "It was my decision and Gibbs promised to support me whatever call I made but there was no way in hell I was going to leave you there."

"That doesn't make up for the fourteen years you missed." Dani replied brokenly, "that doesn't make up for the birthdays, for my eighth grade graduation, for everything that you missed. I'm grateful that you're stepping up now, that you got me out of there but it doesn't make up for everything I went through, it doesn't make up for the fact that you started a family and forgot about me."

"I never once forgot about you." Jenny said firmly, "I thought about you _every single day_ , I thought about how old you were, I thought about what you might be like, what your interests might be, every year on your birthday I thought about you and I wished more than anything I could go back in time. I wished I could go back to the day you were born and hold you for just a bit longer, count all of your fingers and toes just one more time, tell you that I loved you and that I was so sorry for what I had to do. None of that makes up for what I did, for what I missed and what you had to go through because I made a bad decision and I will be sorry about that for the rest of my life but I _never once_ forgot about you."

"It still doesn't fix it." Dani replied quietly.

"I know that, Dani." She whispered, pushing herself off of the door.

She walked over to the edge of the bed and crouched down in front of Dani.

"I know nothing can ever fix what I did, what happened to you but Dani I'm trying my best to be a good mom." She said, "I don't know if you want kids one day but if you ever have them you will understand that parenting is the hardest job there is and there is no manual for it. It's your job to do what you think is best for you kids and I did what I did because I thought it was what was best for you… I was wrong and I screwed up and you suffered because of it and I can never say sorry enough but Dani please let me try, you don't have to love me, you don't even have to like me but please let me try to be a good mom."

She placed her hand on Dani's knee and tried to express how sorry she was with her eyes.

"I'm not ready to forgive you, I'm not even sure I know how to… but I'm willing to try."

"Thank you." Jenny whispered, squeezing her knee, "and Dani I know you don't want to hear it but I love you so much…"

Dani swallowed and nodded her eyes blinking rapidly.

"Thank you Mo-Je…I don't even know what to call you."

Jenny chuckled mirthlessly at the irony of the entire situation and shrugged.

"That's up to you." Jenny replied, "I'm not going to force anything on you, it's whatever you're comfortable with."

"Thanks…" Dani whispered, "Mom."

Jenny couldn't fight back the tears that spilled over as she stood up, she had been waiting and dreaming of hearing those words from her daughter's mouth for fourteen years and she had a hard time controlling her response.

"I'm going to hug you now, okay?" She asked, offering Dani an out if she wasn't comfortable with it.

She felt her shoulders slump in relief when the teen nodded, she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Dani against her, running her hand over her hair.

 **So I apologize if this makes no sense because I am completely exhausted but I really wanted to give you guys something! Not everything is fixed but I think we're on the right track with Dani and Jenny, if there's anything you guys would like me to have them discuss a bit deeper let me know! I only own my mistakes and nothing else but I love to hear from you! Thank you all for your reviews and support!**

 **~Katie**


	18. Chapter 18

**Eighteen**

Jenny closed the door to Dani's room behind her and took a shuddering breath before walking down the hallway. She saw that the door to the guest room was closed and heard water running from the kids bathroom, she paused outside of Kelly's room and peeked in but the teen was nowhere in sight. She kept walking and made her way downstairs, she listened carefully but with the exception of running water there was no sound coming from anywhere in the house.

She found Gibbs sitting on the couch in the living room, she dropped her hand to his shoulder as she rounded the couch.

"Hey." He said quietly, "everything okay?"

She moved to sit beside him but smiled softly in surprise when he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her down sideways onto his lap. Normally she would protest but she simply rested her head against his shoulder and ran her hand up and down his arm.

"She called me mom." Jenny whispered almost in awe.

"Best feeling in the world." Gibbs muttered, tightening his arms around her waist, "isn't it?"

"Yeah… It is." She agreed, "where is everyone?"

"Jake is in his room reading, Kelly is giving Ava a bath and my dad is in his room." Gibbs replied, "I told him about Lily."

"Thank you."

She gave his upper arm a squeeze, she wasn't sure she could handle another emotional conversation that night and she knew Jack wouldn't have let it go until he got answers.

"How's Dani?"

"Angry, confused, hurt." Jenny replied, "and I don't blame her, but I think she understands that I did what I did for a reason."

"And she's okay with that?"

"No and I don't know that she ever will be but we're going to try to find something that works for us."

She was glad that they'd had the conversation, they'd needed to get some things out in the open but she knew it by no means fixed everything, she seriously doubted it had fixed _anything_ but she didn't feel like she was keeping secrets anymore.

"And how're you doing?"

"I'm relieved." She admitted with a sigh, "relieved that she knows now, that it's all out there… But I've been through interrogations that were less nerve wracking."

"You let her lead?"

"Yes." Jenny replied, "I didn't know where to start or what she wanted to know so I let her control the conversation."

"She ask about her dad?"

Jenny stiffened in his lap but nodded, it was a conversation they had barely had, all she had told Gibbs was that Dani's father had been a bad guy and he hadn't pushed for more information.

"She asked about her biological father." She corrected gently, before running her hand through hair, "and I told her the truth, I didn't give her a lot of details but I told her the truth."

"She deserves to know about him." He stated.

"No." Jenny replied firmly, "what she deserves is to have a good father, and the man I told her about was her father in blood only. I don't want her to think that who is he is defines who she becomes, he was her biological father but she deserves a dad, there's a difference, Jethro."

"Yeah… There is." He agreed.

"I want her to know that her dad is right here." She added quietly, "I know that we've talked about what you are to her before but I need to know that my daughter has a dad."

"She has a dad." Gibbs promised, "As long as you let me I'm here for her."

"I need you to be here for her always, no matter what's going on… I need you to be her father first and my partner second, I need to know that no matter what happens our kids, all of them, will come first."

"Always."

She ran her hand up his arm and rested it against the side of his neck. She lifted her head from his shoulder and shifted a bit so she could press her lips to his, the kiss lasted less than four seconds before she pulled back and rested her forehead against his.

"Thank you."

She wanted to say so much more than that to him, she wanted to tell him how much she appreciated what he did for her, she wanted to tell him how much she cared about him but she knew it wasn't the right time.

"Should be saying that to you." He replied, running his hand down her back.

He tilted his head and gave her another kiss. She grinned into the kiss and carded her hand through the short hair at the base of his neck. She shifted again when he pressed his hand against her back a bit more insistently and her grin faltered when he deepened the kiss. She felt the arm around her waist tighten as she shifted again to lean closer to him.

"Um…"

Jenny bolted back and would have fallen off of Gibbs' lap had it not been for the strong arm wrapped around her waist. She felt her cheeks redden and heat flood over her when she looked over Gibbs' shoulder to see Kelly standing in the entrance to the living room with Ava in her arms.

"Hey, Baby." She greeted, her voice cracking, "we were just-"

"Making out with teenagers, yeah I can see that." Kelly replied with a raised eyebrow, "does that mean what I think it means?"

Jenny shifted her gaze to Gibbs who offered her a small supportive smirk and a nod.

"Yes." Jenny replied, unable to keep the grin off of her face, "we're going to try to make this work."

Kelly's face broke out into a wide smile as she bounced on her heels, unable to jump up and down with the baby in her arms.

"Congratulations." She exclaimed happily.

"Thanks." Jenny replied with a small chuckle, "and thank you for bathing her." She added nodding to the baby.

She slid off of Gibbs' lap and settled against his side, his arm immediately wrapped around her shoulders and she leaned further against him.

"You're welcome." Kelly replied as she walked around the couch.

Jenny held out her arms and took the baby from Kelly, inhaling the scent of her damp hair and the lingering scent of baby shampoo. She loved the smell of baby powder and Ava was more than happy to cuddle against her, one tiny hand rubbing her eye and the other one in her mouth.

"How's Dani?" Kelly asked, dropping down into the armchair across from the couch.

"Better." Jenny replied, "not great but we're working on it."

"That's a start." Kelly stated, "You just have to understand how scary this is, coming into a new home with complete strangers who are all of a sudden your family. It takes the saying going from zero to one hundred to a whole new level. I at least remembered Dad a little bit, and I had Jake and Ava with me. Dani has no one right now and that's not a fun feeling, just give her a bit of time and space."

"We will." Jenny promised, "and thank you for watching out for her, Kel."

"She's my little sister." Kelly replied with a shrug, "you do what you have to for family, right?"

"Yeah." Jenny agreed quietly.

She felt Gibbs' arm tighten around her shoulder and looked up at him, she could tell just by the look on his face how proud of his daughter he was. Something in Kelly's statement rang true and Jenny leaned away from Gibbs, she passed Ava over to him and stood up with a sigh.

"Speaking of family there's one other thing I have to do tonight." She stated tiredly.

"Where're you going?" Gibbs asked.

"I need to go talk to Stan." She replied, "can you give your dad a hand, Kel?"

"Yeah, of course." Kelly responded, "is everything okay with Uncle Stan?"

"Everything's fine." Jenny reassured her, "I just need to talk to him really quick, I should be home before you guys go to bed."

She walked past Kelly and gave her shoulder a squeeze and kissed to top of her head.

"I'm proud of you." She whispered against her hair before standing up and leaving the room.

She was about to go upstairs to check on Jake but she heard the bathroom door shut and his off key singing as the shower turned on. She smirked to herself and shook her head before grabbing her jacket and pulling on her boots.

"You want me to go with you?" Gibbs asked.

"No, I need to talk to him alone." Jenny replied, "he's been off for weeks and I need to know what's gotten into him before we go back to work tomorrow, I won't be long."

"I've got things here." He reassured her, "I'll check on Dani in an hour or so and see if she wants some dinner and I'll make sure Jake is ready for bed when you get home."

"Okay, thank you." She zipped up her jacket and tilted her chin to accept a quick kiss.

She shut the front door behind her and couldn't help but smirk at how domestic the entire encounter had had come a long way from a relationship that had been built purely on heat of the moment passion to just enjoying the small everyday moments.

N*C*I*S

She knocked on the front door one more time before finally deciding to try the doorknob, she rolled her eyes when it turned easily and let herself in. She listened carefully for any sounds but didn't hear any, she called out but there was no response. She was about to turn around and leave when she noticed the light on in the dining room. She wandered through the rooms until she reached the top of the basement stairs where sure enough there was light streaming up the stair case. She stepped down the first few steps until she could see Stan sitting on the edge of the work bench, a beer in his hand as he stared at the boat. She slid her legs under the railing and sat on the stairs, her feet dangling off the side of the stair case.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" She asked, breaking the silence.

She saw Stan glance her way with a raised eyebrow but he didn't verbally acknowledge her.

"I didn't." She stated, "until I stepped foot in this basement for the first time, you can almost feel all of the ghosts that live here."

"What're you doing here, Jenny?" Stan asked, his eyes not straying from the boat.

"It's funny how different things and places can mean different things for each person, to me this house was always calming, a place I could go to escape life but for my partner it was a prison haunted by the people he had lost." She added, completely ignoring his question. "I didn't even realize how many memories were made in this house until a few years ago and I didn't realize how many of those memories, that I wasn't even present for, would affect me and my life. My daughter learned to walk on these floors, she learned to use a sander in this basement, her first big girl bed was in the bedroom upstairs. All of these things were going on and I was finishing up college, I had no idea what my life would turn into."

"Not that I'm not enjoying this introspection but are you planning on making a point anytime soon?"

"Yes." She replied, giving him a mild glare.

"Careful you're starting to look like your husband."

"My partner." She corrected, "we've never been legally married."

"Legal or not the diamonds on your finger say otherwise."

Jenny looked down at the rings on her finger and shrugged, she supposed he was right, if anyone were to see the rings on her finger they would assume she was married and as far as she was concerned that was fine. She was in no way naive enough to firmly believe that she and Gibbs would last forever but in her mind the commitment was there, she had every intention to fight through everything life could throw at them to make it work.

"Back to my point." She redirected, "Sometimes it's hard to imagine where we'll end up and some of the questions that come out of the journey are impossible to answer. My fourteen year old asked me why I gave her up for adoption, today. I gave her my reasons but I don't think the answers were what she was expecting. Even if she didn't expect or like them they were the only answers I had and we're trying to find a way to make it work for us…" She looked at Stan to make sure he was still following, "sometimes the why questions are the hardest ones to answer."

"Still not seeing a point."

"I'm about one second from making it if you would just stop talking." She chided, "my point is sometimes we don't know where we'll end up. When I woke up this morning I never imagined that I'd be pulling you off of someone you once respected and admired, and as I said before that sometimes 'why' questions are the hardest to answer… So I have to ask, why? What happened, Stan?"

"He hurt you." Stan stated, "I can't just sit by and watch someone hurt you, Red."

"You hurt me too." She replied quietly, "you hurt me more today than he did, you should have asked what happened before immediately jumping to conclusions."

"Come on, Jenny." He said, rolling his eyes, "you've got a massive bruise in the shape of a hand on your wrist, theres's not a whole lot of explanations for that."

"He was having a nightmare." She stated, "yes the infallible Leroy Jethro Gibbs has nightmares, and I reached out to him. I was half asleep and normally I know better than to do it but I wasn't thinking. He was sound asleep when it happened, he didn't even realize what he had done until this morning when you were trying to beat the crap out of him."

She watched him shrug and take a swig of his beer.

"But today was just the tip of the iceberg." She added, "you've been off for weeks, you go silent every time he's around and we've invited you for dinner countless times and you always have something going on… All of that started before this, so what the hell is going on Stan?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because." She said, "Because my life is completely upside down right now, I _need_ my big brother to help me out."

She was almost ashamed of the way her voice cracked as the sudden overwhelming urge to cry came over her.

"So it matters." She muttered, "it matters because I need my friend and my brother back."

"He took advantage of you." Stan stated, "you were a probie when he met you, he was your mentor for gods sake and he took advantage of that."

"Nothing happened between us until we were in Europe, I wasn't a probie then and I was twenty-eight years old, it's not like I didn't know what I was doing."

"He was still a senior agent and he was still your mentor, he should have never crossed that line, Jenny." Stan argued, "not to mention he's so goddamn high and mighty about his rules, he would kill us if we broke his precious rule twelve but the minute he gets to screw his hot younger agent it's okay?"

"Watch yourself, Stan." She warned gently, "no it's not okay but he didn't make the first move, I did."

"And he should have stopped you."

"He tried too." Jenny replied, "but then he got hurt and I almost lost him and the rules mattered to both of us a hell of a lot less."

"So what? You fell in love and decided you couldn't live without each other?"

"Hardly." Jenny chuckled mirthlessly, "it was all about the sex in the beginning, he was one of my best friends but as far as any sort of 'relationship' went it was just a friends with benefits kind of thing, I was the one who messed it up by telling him I loved him."

"And what he said it back and happily ever after?"

"Definitely not." She replied, actually laughing that time, "I think he did eventually love me but he wasn't in a place where he could let himself fall _in_ love, everything was still too fresh and looking back I wasn't in a great place either."

"So why did it end then?"

"I got pregnant." She stated with a shrug, "it's amazing what an unplanned pregnancy will do to a pseudo-relationship where both people are afraid of commitment and mourning people they've lost. I left and told him it was for the job, he thought I chose a high-powered career over him and he was understandably upset."

"And then you came back."

"Yes," She replied, "I came back and things were pretty brutal for a while, especially in the last year and a half but we're figuring it out."

"I just don't get it Jenny." Stan stated, "I've always respected him, respected his code and I could see how that could be appealing but he's always been a bastard. You saw how his marriage ended, why get into that?"

"Because I saw a different side of him." She replied honestly, "he's a bastard, there's no question about that but he's a good man, he's loyal and honest."

"So is a German Shepard." Stan deadpanned, "but you didn't get one of those… I just don't understand how you can be with someone who can't express feelings or emotions."

"You and I know completely different versions of him." She stated, "I know the side you're talking about, the hardass who can't say sorry, the one who demands the impossible and expects it to be handed to him without complaint and never gives any sort of praise. I know that Gibbs all too well but I know another side of him too, when I came back from Israel to take over for Morrow do you know what he said to me?"

"I'm guessing he bitched about you leaving the field."

"He did." Jenny conceded with a small grin, "but within five minutes of me being back he told me that he missed me… Do you understand how hard that would be for him? Remember that in his mind I left him for a high powered career and now I'm back, as his boss basically rubbing that decision in his face and he looked me dead in the eye and told me that he missed me." She twisted the ring on her finger and shrugged, "and the worst part is that before he told me that, I completely shut him down, I told him there would be no off the job and that we would only keep things professional… I basically told my best friend that I wanted nothing to do with him and he shrugged and told me that he missed me."

"What changed?"

"I did." She replied, "When he had his accident two years ago I almost lost him and I realized how much I still needed him in my life, and then it was his turn to walk away… When he came back he met someone and I had tried dating again and it kind of just got forgotten and then Kelly showed up and here we are."

"I'm still not okay with it, he crossed a line but I get that not everything is black and white." Stan stated slowly, "just tell answer one thing."

"I can try."

"Does he treat you right?"

"Yes." Jenny replied without hesitation, "we still have our moments at work where he forgets who's in charge but at home we're equals… He puts the kids and I first all the time, I took a nap this afternoon and he cleaned the entire first floor of the house, he made dinner so I could relax, he gets up with the baby so I can sleep… He's my partner and yes we fight sometimes but he's my best friend."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes." She admitted.

It almost scared her how easy it was to admit that, she didn't even have to think about it before the words were out of her mouth, she did love him and there was no doubt in her mind about that.

"Then I'll learn to be okay with it." Stan stated, "I guess I should have a chat with Gibbs."

"He'll understand, Stan." Jenny replied, "if anything he'll respect you for looking out for me… But I'm an adult, I appreciate you looking out for me but I can make my own decisions and you have to let me, okay?"

"Yeah." Stan agreed with a small nod, "I'm sorry, Red."

"Rule Six." She replied with a small smile, "but thank you."

Stan slid off of the work bench and walked over to her, he reached up and gave her knee a small squeeze before holding out his beer.

"You want one?"

"No." She replied as she pulled herself up, "I have to head home, I want to tuck my kids in before bed."

"You're all grown up." Stan stated with small but proud smile.

"Yup." Jenny replied with a wink, "your little probie isn't a baby anymore."

"Nah, you'll always by my probie." Stan chuckled, "and my little sister."

"Come by the house and spend sometime with your nieces and nephews, okay?"

She knelt down and gave him a kiss on the cheek before letting herself out of the basement.

 **Well I have been wanting to write this for awhile because I've really started to hate Stan (I love him in the show, he was just being an ass in this particular story) and now we can get back into 'fun Uncle Stan'… So we're getting close to the 60,000 word mark which is where I cut off the last story, at this point we're mid October, there are still a few things I want to wrap up but I'm thinking about ending this segment at chapter twenty (doing two long chapters to wrap it up) and then doing a time jump to mid November to get into the holiday season… How do we feel about that?… Remember I own nothing but I love to hear from you guys!**

 **~Katie**


	19. Chapter 19

**Nineteen**

Jenny stared blindly into her coffee mug, her eyes dead and her head pounding. She was exhausted, Ava had been up screaming most of the night and when she had finally fallen asleep at 0300 Jake had come into their room with tears in his eyes begging to sleep with them. If it hadn't been for her nap the previous afternoon she doubted she'd even be able to function. She leaned her head down on her forearm and groaned as she thought about the day ahead.

"You okay?"

She jumped and then moaned as two large hands began massaging her tense shoulders, she rolled her head back and forth on her forearm and stretched out her neck.

"That feels amazing…" She muttered, moaning again when he hit a knot.

She heard him chuckle behind her and raised her head a bit when she felt one hand leave her shoulder and heard her coffee mug being lifted from the counter top.

"Don't mess with my coffee." She muttered, "rule twenty-three B, don't mess with an exhausted mothers coffee or you _will_ die."

"Good to know." He replied, taking a gulp before putting the mug back down.

"You have no respect for me." She mumbled, letting her head fall back against her arm.

"I respect you." He reassured her.

She smiled into her arm when he leaned down to kiss the top of her head, she closed her eyes as he continued to rub her shoulders. She was almost asleep when there was a sharp cry from the baby monitor on the counter.

"Oh god…" Jenny muttered.

"I'll go." Gibbs offered, giving her shoulders one last squeeze, "I'm sure the girls will be up soon."

"I'll start breakfast in a minute."

"They can have cereal or toast, no need to make anything fancy."

"I'm up, I've been up for almost forty-two hours, I may as well make breakfast." She stated with a sigh.

"Okay." Gibbs whispered.

Things hadn't been easy since they'd brought their kids home but today was the first day she was actually feeling overwhelmed, she wouldn't trade her kids for the world but she was getting desperate for a bit of a break, or eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.

She heard footsteps above her followed by Gibbs' voice attempting to sooth the screaming baby, she lifted her head and reached out for the baby monitor fully intending to turn it off as the screaming turned to whimpering, she paused though when she heard Gibbs speaking.

"You gotta give Mommy a bit of a break, Bug." He muttered, his voice soothing, "she's tired and she needs some sleep… She's trying her best but ya gotta let her sleep."

She smiled softly before shutting the monitor off, giving Gibbs and their daughter some privacy. She took a large gulp of her coffee before lowering her head back to the counter. She raised her head two minutes later when she heard footsteps, she looked up expecting to see Gibbs and the baby but instead she found Jack watching her out of the corner of his eye as he walked towards the coffeepot.

"Good morning." She greeted, her voice rough.

"Good morning." He replied with a raised eyebrow, "you okay sweetie? I heard the baby up last night."

"I'm fine." Jenny replied with a shrug, "I'm sorry she kept you up."

"Oh it's no problem, I'll be back to a silent house soon enough, a bit of noise is good for the soul."

"My soul is going to be in really good shape." Jenny said with a small laugh.

"Oh yeah." Jack agreed, "listen, Jenny…"

She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, Jackson Gibbs wasn't one to beat around the bush and she was genuinely curious about what he could possibly be hesitating about.

"About last night… Leroy told me about your daughter, your youngest… I am so sorry."

Jenny wrapped both hands around her mug and looked down at the dark liquid.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"I've never lost a child, I've lost my wife, my granddaughter…two granddaughters." He corrected quietly, "and my daughter-in-law and it hurt, I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child."

"I hope you never have to know." Jenny replied honestly, "it's something no parent should ever have to go through."

"I'm sorry that you and my son have both gone through so much." Jack stated, "I wish I could take some of that pain away… You have kids, you know what it's like to see them hurting."

"Yeah." Jenny replied, pursing her lips and nodding, "it's one of the worst feelings in the world, but we're getting through it."

She bit her lip as she felt her chin quiver, she was over tired, emotional and really overwhelmed. She took a breath, cleared her throat and stood up, she needed to distract herself.

By the time Dani appeared in the kitchen Jenny had bacon and eggs going and another pot of coffee on, Gibbs appeared just behind her with a now calm Ava in his arms.

"If you play even forty minutes of _that_ ," Dani said pointing to Ava, "during a sex-ed class you will obliterate teen pregnancy."

"I think we'd obliterate pregnancy completely." Jenny commented, "and that's why we don't play that for forty minutes straight, it's like a trap all new parents need to fall in to."

"And the rest of us get to suffer for it." Dani muttered, "just promise me one thing."

"Sure." Jenny replied, willing to humour the teen.

"No more babies."

"You have my word." Jenny promised, rolling her eyes, "four is the perfect number."

"Do I get a say?" Gibbs asked, settling Ava into her highchair.

"Are you giving birth?" Jenny asked with a raised eyebrow, "then no."

"Fair point." Gibbs conceded, "What about adoption?"

Jenny was almost afraid he was serious but he shot her a small wink and she sighed in relief, she didn't horribly mind being pregnant and she loved their kids but she was turning thirty-nine in a few weeks and four kids was already a handful, she couldn't handle anymore children, adopted or not.

"You're not funny." She stated, glaring at Gibbs.

"I'm always open to more grandchildren." Jack put in.

"And now I know where _he_ gets his sense of humour from." Jenny shot back, "you're both _hilarious_." She deadpanned, "there's coffee if you want it and bacon in the oven, I'll have your eggs in a minute." She said, turning to Dani.

"Thanks, where's Kelly?" Dani asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Right here." The older redhead muttered as she walked into the kitchen, "you know that would make effective birth control." She added, nodding to the baby.

Jenny burst out laughing as she poured herself another cup of coffee. It was moments like those that made the exhaustion, the heartache and the stress all worth it, it was moments like those that reminded her why she loved being a mother.

 **ONE MORE CHAPTER TO GO! I'm not doing a huge authors note because I want to get on to the next chapter but thank you guys so much for your support! I love to hear from you! I don't own anything :(**

 **~Katie**


	20. Chapter 20

**Twenty**

Jenny closed the oven door with a proud smile. She, under the careful supervision of Kelly, was trying her hand at making a roast. It was Jack's last night in town and they had invited Joann and Mac over for a family dinner. It wasn't Jenny or Gibbs' ideal family dinner, the team wouldn't be there, it was Friday night and they all had plans but Jack had wanted all of them to get together one last time before he left town.

"It's looking good." Kelly stated, peaking over her shoulder.

"Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks." Jenny replied, grabbing a stack of plates out of the cupboard, "where's your brother?"

"He's outside with Grandpa." Kelly replied, grabbing a few glasses, "Grandpa Mac and Grandma should be here soon."

"Where's your dad?" Jenny asked, following Kelly into the dining room to set the table.

"Hiding upstairs with Dani and Ava."

"He's not _hiding._ " Jenny replied with a small smirk.

"He's hiding." Kelly repeated.

"Okay so maybe he's hiding." Jenny conceded, "I'll go get him."

"I'll go let them in." Kelly replied when there was a knock on the front door.

"Thanks." Jenny called out over her shoulder as she made her way upstairs.

She found Gibbs stretched out on the floor of Ava's nursery, Ava was laying on her stomach and grinning at the toys spread out in front of her.

"Your daughter thinks you're hiding." Jenny stated.

" _Our_ daughter is smart." Gibbs replied.

She groaned as she slowly lowered herself to the floor in front of him and leaned her back against him. His arm immediately fell to her waist, Jenny reached out and straightened out the dress Ava was wearing and grinned when the baby giggled.

"Hey, Ava." Jenny cooed, "are you hiding out with Daddy?"

Ava squealed and rolled herself over to face them, Jenny reached out and pulled her into her lap and straightened out her wispy hair as she did so.

"They're here, by the way." She stated when the sound of voices drifted up the stairs and through the open door. "She needs to be changed." She added when she felt baby's diaper, "I'll do it, I think Kelly would appreciate it if you went downstairs."

"Which also means you want to hide." He replied as he pushed himself off the floor before helping her up.

"Yes." Jenny replied, leaning up to give him a kiss, "just for a minute… They're just people, we face down murderers and drug lords and we're afraid or two seventy year olds."

"No one likes their in-laws." Gibbs reminded her.

"I like, Jack." Jenny argued, "and it's not that I don't like Joann and Mac… I just…"

"Don't know how to take them yet." Gibbs finished for her.

"Yeah." She agreed empathetically, "I'll get there but right now I want just five more minutes before I go downstairs."

She let him steal another kiss before shooing him out of the room. She took her time changing Ava's diaper and then slowly made her way down the hallway, she paused outside of Dani's open door and poked her head in.

"Joann and Mac are here." She stated.

She stepped further into the room when she saw what Dani was doing. The teen was standing in front of her mirror staring at her reflection with a critical eye.

"What's up, Dan?" She asked, using Gibbs' pet name for her daughter.

"Does this outfit look okay?"

Jenny studied the outfit, simple black jeans, and a black pullover sweater with a black and white polka-dotted blouse underneath. It was nice but it wasn't exactly Dani's style.

"It's nice, not what you usually wear though." Jenny pointed out.

"I wanted to look normal for dinner." Dani admitted with a sigh, "they kept looking at Abby and I funny last time."

Jenny had brushed off Joann's cold behaviour towards Abby, the excitable goth sometimes took awhile to get used to but she had been so preoccupied with everything else going on that she hadn't even thought about how Dani would perceive it. Now, watching Dani tug on the collar of her blouse she regretted it, a part of her really wanted to go downstairs and give Joann a piece of her mind but the reasonable half of her knew it wouldn't do anyone any good.

" _Normal_ is a subjective term and it's also a very boring thing to be." Jenny stated, "if you're more comfortable in what you're wearing that's fine but if you want to wear something else then wear it. This is your home, Dani, don't let other people change how you feel or what you do in it."

Dani sighed and pulled at the collar again.

"I'm going to wear it." She said with a shrug, "I'd be more uncomfortable with them staring."

"I'll talk to them." Jenny promised.

"No, no don't do that." Dani argued, "really I'll be fine."

"It's not fair that you have to change for them."

"You do it too." Dani pointed out, "you get passive when they're around and that's not like you."

It wasn't said meanly or to spite Jenny, it was just a simple fact and Jenny nodded slowly.

"It's a difficult situation Dani, in their minds I'm replacing their daughter I have to find a balance that's going to work for us but you being uncomfortable will _not_ be a part of that." She replied firmly.

"I'll be fine, if I need you to say something I'll let you know." Dani promised, "I just don't want to rock the boat right now."

"Alright." Jenny conceded, "but let's get downstairs before Gibbs gets overwhelmed by the amount of people in the house and dies or loses his mind."

"Men are so weak." Dani muttered.

Jenny couldn't stop the laugh that escaped as she nodded her agreement, she shifted Ava to her other hip and followed Dani down the stairs and into the living room where sure enough Gibbs was looking decidedly uncomfortable. She exchanged slightly awkward greetings with Joann and Mac before taking a seat a foot away from Gibbs on the couch.

"Where's Kelly?" She asked, looking around for the teen.

"She went to get Jack and Jake and to get drinks for everyone." Gibbs replied, reaching out to take Ava.

"How old is she again?" Mac asked, nodding to Ava.

"Seven months old." Jenny replied proudly, "She'll actually be eight months in two weeks."

"You look good for having had her only eight months ago." Joann stated, eyeing Jenny up and down.

"Oh, No." Jenny corrected quickly, "Ava isn't biologically ours, neither is Jake."

"I'm going to go help Kelly with those drinks." Dani stated, fleeing the room.

"We brought them home when we got Kelly back." Gibbs explained.

The conversation was mercifully cut short by the appearance of Jake who flew through the dining room and into the living room before launching himself at Jenny. She braced herself for the impact and moved her injured wrist out of the way not a moment to soon as the excited seven year old landed on her.

"Mom, mom, mom, mom!"

"What? What? What?" Jenny replied, nudging Jake around until he was seated comfortable on her lap.

"You missed a what." He pointed out with a grin.

"Okay sorry, what?" She replied ruffling his hair.

"Agent Rollins was showing me all the cool buttons in his car and he let me turn on the lights!"

Jenny raised her eyebrow and glanced over at Jack who had just appeared at a much calmer pace.

"They're some nice people you've got out there." He stated, "Seem to know what they're doing too."

"They're some of our best." Jenny agreed, "not quite as good as your son and his team but right up there, and they're discreet too."

"I didn't even realize they were there until Jake pointed them out." Jack admitted, "they stay out of the way."

"Daddy showed me how to find all of them." Jake said proudly.

"Who is Agent Rollins?" Joann asked.

"A member of my security detail, they normally don't interact unless they're getting instructions but they have a soft spot for the kids."

"You have a security detail?" Mac asked in surprise, "I thought you said you worked for NCIS."

"I do…"

"She's their director." Jack stated proudly, "first female director of an armed federal agency and one of the youngest to boot."

"That is impressive." Mac said, nodding in approval, "must've taken a lot of hard work to get there."

"It did." Jenny agreed, "but I had a lot of good people helping me out along the way."

She shot Gibbs a small smile and he smirked back at her, she was ignoring the critical look she was getting from Joann and taking a minute to enjoy the praise. It wasn't often that people acknowledged her accomplishments, normally she got looked down on for being a woman or people insinuated she had slept her way to the top so it was nice to hear someone acknowledge all of the hard work she had put in. She didn't need constant praise but it was nice every once in awhile.

N*C*I*S

They made it through dinner without any major incidents, Jake spilled a glass of water and Ava knocked food off of the tray of her highchair but all things considered Jenny counted the meal as a success. She was just about to stand and begin to clear plates when her cellphone began to vibrate in her pocket, she pulled it out under the table and looked at the caller ID.

"I am so sorry I have to take this." She stated pushing back her chair.

N*C*I*S

"Shepard."

Gibbs listened but couldn't hear her half of the conversation once she was out of earshot. He went back to feeding the baby and was just about to start clearing dishes himself when Jenny reappeared, her phone still against her ear and her voice stern.

"I want my M.E there, he is the best in the state, this case is mine." She stated adamantly, "No, all do respect but your agents dropped the ball big time, they fumbled and now I have to clean up after it, this is my case end of story."

She hung up the phone and ran her hand through her hair.

"Jake, go upstairs and take a shower." She ordered gently.

"But mom it's-"

"Listen to your mother." Gibbs chastised quietly, "go take a quick shower and then you can watch a movie with Grandpa after supper."

"Is everything okay, Jenny?" Jack asked as soon as Jake was gone.

"Um, no…" She responded slowly, she turned to Gibbs her voice wavering as her earlier bravado disappeared, "you and I need to go into the office, it's an emergency."

"Is everyone okay?" Gibbs asked standing up quickly.

"Your team is fine." She reassured him quickly, "That was the director of the Secret Service, SecNav's agents just found him in his study."

"What do you mean found him?"

"He's dead." Jenny replied, running her hand through her hair.

 **Well guys we did it! Another part done, just as an update we are at 43 chapters total, I've been working on this story for 1 year and seven months or 585 days, and we are well over 100,000 words! I have loved this part of the story so much, seeing Jack and getting a bit of Gibbs' side of the family was fantastic and so much fun to write and I'm excited to continue on with them…. Spoiler: the next part will be a lot more about Jenny's side of the family… Thank you all so much for your continued support I love all of your comments and your feed back is always amazing! I am so grateful for all of you! For everyone asking for a sequel I want you to know that this story is in no way done! I just break it up into parts so I can do time jumps and such, I still have a lot planned (My original plan was to go through the entire first year with the family and I still think I'm going to do that if everyone is up for it!) So I love to hear from you guys and thank you for sticking with me on this absolutely wild ride!**

 **~Katie**


End file.
